Sixers MVP candidate Joel Embiid’s knee injury recalls Eagles MVP hopeful Carson Wentz, 2017 | Marcus Hayes

If you bleed green, you probably know where you were at 7:05 p.m Dec. 10, 2017, when you found out Carson Wentz’s left knee cost him the MVP.

If you also bleed red, white, and blue, you felt that same, sinking feeling at 9:35 p.m. on March 12, 2021. That’s when Joel Embiid’s left knee straightened, hyperextended, and crumpled, bringing the 7-foot, 280-pound Titan crashing the floor of Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C.

The best player was down. Again.

The Sixers called it a “left knee injury.”

You call it a Philly gut punch.

The mercury plummeted in Philadelphia’s barometer. That single moment might have cost him the MVP, and, as such, cost the Sixers their first real shot at a championship in 38 years.

The Sixers said Saturday that Embiid had a bone bruise that will cost him at least two weeks. He appears to have averted Wentz’s third-quarter catastrophe.

That was the other eerie similarity.

For Wentz, 3 minutes, 54 seconds remained in the third quarter of that game back in 2017.

For Embiid, 6:20 remained in the third quarter Friday night. And what remained for 2021?

It looked that serious. Eagles tackle Lane Johnson tweeted a prayer emoji.

Embiid, who missed the first game after the NBA All Star break due to COVID-19 protocols, had just hammered a monster, right-handed slam, the product of a slick, five-pass exchange with Tobias Harris — a measure of Embiid’s development in this, his fifth full NBA season. It was his 23rd point in just 20 minutes. For several long moments, it looked to be his last for a long, long time. The injury could have been anything from a bruise to a sprain to torn ligaments.

Embiid first pointed at Wizards guard Garrison Mathews, who collided with Embiid mid-flight, but, inexplicably, somehow was not called for a foul. Then the pain crashed in on Embiid, in waves. He grabbed the knee with his huge hands, as if to protect it, only too late. He rolled onto his left side, in a fetal position, breath heaving, right hand pounding the court in frustration. Anguish wracked his face. He rolled onto his stomach and sobbed into a towel.

Pain, his old and hated partner. Pain, set to ruin his breakout season, if a four-time All Star can be said to have a breakout season. It can. His 30.2 points, his 52.1% field-goal percentage, his astonishing 41.6 three-point percentage, and his 85.6 free-throw percentage all are career highs, and all make him the favorite to win the NBA MVP award over ageless LeBron James. Of course, any prolonged absence in a season that COVID-19 shortened to by 10 games, in which he already has missed seven, likely will sabotage Embiid’s MVP hopes.

Embiid’s 2021 season brings to mind Wentz’s 2017. When Wentz cut and dived into the end zone against the Rams at the Los Angeles Coliseum in Game 13, it essentially ended his season. A penalty nullified the play, and he remained in the game to throw a touchdown pass four snaps later. Like Embiid, he’d played brilliantly that game and that season. Wentz left the game with four touchdown passes and 291 passing yards. His 78.5 “Total Quarterback Rating” led the league.

But minutes after that fourth TD, Wentz limped into the locker room. His shoulders slumped. His face set hard. With him, it seemed, limped the hopes of a city forever denied a Super Bowl title. He did not return. Wentz’s incident set off a career spiral of injury and regression that led to his trade from the Eagles to the Colts last month.

Embiid limped into the tunnel at Capital One Arena the exact same way. He, too, did not return.

From the way he walked off, he won’t play any time soon.

It’s as if Embiid knew what was coming. More rehab. More absence. More whispers about his durability. Valid whispers.

» READ MORE: Joel Embiid suffers game-ending left knee injury as Sixers rout Washington Wizards, 127-101

Embiid missed his first two seasons with foot injuries. He has missed significant portions of each season since with significant injuries — knee, back, face, shoulder. The knee was the most troublesome.

It is the same knee.

It is the same play.

It happened at almost the same point in the season.

Embiid missed 40 of the last 41 games in his rookie season, 2016-17, when he hyperextended his left knee on a dunk. He suffered a bone bruise and eventually underwent surgery to repair a torn meniscus.

The Eagles won their game against the Rams, then proceeded to win Super Bowl LII. The Eagles had Nick Foles.

The Sixers beat the Wizards on Friday. Embiid isn’t expected to miss more than eight or 10 games, which is a huge relief.

The Sixers have no Nick Foles.