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PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia 76ers welcomed Joel Embiid back to the floor on Friday in the preseason finale and it was a solid performance. The big fella poured in 14 points, eight assists, seven rebounds, and three steals in 19 minutes in a 126-110 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Embiid looked like his normal self all things considered. He was moving well up and down the court, he had a couple of offensive moves that showed he can still put the ball in the basket at a high level, and he continues to take steps forward with his passing. It was an overall good performance that he can now build on as he continues to recover from his knee.
“I feel pretty good,” Embiid said after the win. “Obviously, this is more of a learning process. Just getting back, seeing everything, obviously, feeling good on the court, and then how the body reacts. We’re gonna learn as we go. As every game comes by so we’ll see how it feels tomorrow, but it’s been mentioned so many times. They’re gonna take that slow approach, so, yeah, but I’m gonna do whatever they tell me to do.”
Embiid has been through a lot to get to this point. He only played 19 games in what was a miserable 2024-25 season as he just wasn’t able to get his knee right in the midst of an overall tough season on the floor in Philadelphia. As he continues through with this process, the big fella is just happy to be back doing what he loves which is to play this game at its highest level and compete like everybody knows he can.
“I don’t wanna think about the past,” he stated. “I’m just in a good space mentally, physically. Just, yeah, I don’t know. First of all, I’m just happy to touch a basketball and be able to play basketball and do what I love. When you don’t get that, it’s tough, but that’s what I’m most happy about. Tonight, that’s all I kept thinking about. I’m on the court playing basketball, doing some good things, helping us win, and that’s really what I was focusing on.”
The preseason is over. Embiid and the Sixers will now turn their attention to opening night against the Boston Celtics on Wednesday.
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