Sixers’ Joel Embiid no longer asks himself, ‘Why me?’ when dealing with injury

A season ago, Joel Embiid stopped asking himself “Why me?” when thinking about constantly being injured.

But how does the 76ers standout avoid asking that question this season while dealing with left knee swelling and a right sinus fracture?

“Talking to somebody,” Embiid said, “get some help, see if that helps, and really just stop asking myself questions, feeling bad about myself.”

» READ MORE: Joel Embiid scores 34 points in return, leading Sixers to a 108-98 victory over Charlotte Hornets

The 7-foot-2 center, who has battled injuries throughout his career, noted that it’s hard to not feel bad about himself in those moments.

“Especially when you know what you are and what you can accomplish,” said Embiid, the 2023 league MVP and seven-time All-Star. “But it’s just not the way it is. A lesson that I learned is stop feeling bad about myself, live day by day, enjoy the good people around, the positive and not focus on the negative.”

He had a lot to feel positive about Friday night.

Embiid, donning a mask, finished with a game-high 34 points in the Sixers’ 108-98 victory over the Charlotte Hornets after missing Monday’s game against Charlotte because of a right sinus fracture. Due to load management, the two-time league scoring champion didn’t travel to Cleveland with the Sixers (9-16) for Saturday’s game against the Cavaliers.

It marks the 19th game Embiid missed this season for left knee management, left knee swelling, three-game suspension, and the aforementioned fracture. New teammate Paul George, who has overcome his share of injuries, has helped Embiid remain positive.

“You can never get enough support,” Embiid said. “If I’m going to be honest, when you got the support from family, people close to you, teammates like [George], that’s the reason why you want to keep doing it. You want to keep figuring it out, because that’s who you play for: people that care about you, people that support you, people that push you.

“I have a hard time disappointing people, which I’m working on. So when you get that kind of support, it’s hard, like I said, to feel bad about yourself. I like to please people, so you just got to keep going.”

» READ MORE: Sixers takeaways: Paul George struggles, early three-point barrage downs Hornets

Friday marked Embiid’s third 30-point performance of the season and 192nd of his career. That’s tied for 11th among active NBA players. He scored 24 of his points after intermission, marking his second 20-point half out of seven games played. And his nine assists were a season high.

George mentioned Embiid being a “willing passer” when asked if anything surprised him during their small sample size of playing together.

“He just makes the game easy,” said George, who spent the past five seasons with the Los Angeles Clippers. “He’s a little bit like playing with Kawhi [Leonard] in L.A. They play at their pace. But we’re all playing at their game.

“He just has a way of manipulating the game and making the right reads. And it’s fun for me, being a guy that thrives in isolation. Sometimes the easy ones are there that I’m not seeing, that he’s seeing.”

That’s something that George admits he has to get accustomed to, suggesting that it will help the Sixers if he is better at cutting and reading space.

“He’s a heck of a passer,” George said.

Even though he played well, Embiid is still dealing with his injury. He actually returned sooner than originally scheduled. Embiid was supposed to be sidelined three games before being reevaluated on Monday. However, he came back on Friday, missing just one game.

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“I felt OK,” he said. “Still, obviously recovering. It bothers me sometimes, the head in general. Just going as it gets better every day, and that’ll be good.”

But his presence made things easier for the Sixers, who finished with a season-high 30 assists.

“It’s great man,” George said. “He’s a cheat code.”