Joel Embiid sat out the final 16 minutes Sunday night as the Philadelphia 76ers were eliminated by the New York Knicks, who closed out a 30-point Game 4 win and completed a sweep in the Eastern Conference semifinals at Xfinity Mobile Arena.
The loss sent Philadelphia into the offseason after its sixth second-round exit in nine playoffs during the Embiid era, and it was the second time the center was swept out of the postseason. Embiid, who missed Game 2 with right hip and ankle injuries, watched the end from the bench as the Knicks turned the game into a rout.
For the 76ers, the defeat landed less than three weeks after Embiid returned on April 26 from an emergency appendectomy, only to watch Philadelphia get routed by the Celtics and fall behind 3-1 in the first round. The team answered that setback by winning its next three games, becoming the fourth lower-seeded team in NBA history to rally from a 3-1 deficit and win a series on May 2. That comeback now sits beside another early exit, one that leaves the franchise searching again for a cleaner path through the playoffs.
Embiid said after the loss that it was OK to admit the other team was just better. He added that the Knicks made every shot and every play, while Philadelphia did not make enough shots of its own. Then he widened the blame beyond one game, saying ownership, the front office, players and coaches all had to get better.
The collapse came after a season in which injuries hit almost everyone on the roster except rookie VJ Edgecombe. Embiid, Tyrese Maxey and Paul George were all sidelined during a late-season stretch, and the club entered the playoffs carrying the kind of physical uncertainty that has shadowed much of Embiid’s career since his NBA debut in October 2016.
That history is long. Embiid has played through or missed postseason games because of fractured orbital bones in 2018 and 2022, knee tendinitis in 2019, a right knee sprain in 2023, and left knee surgery along with Bell’s palsy in 2024. The only postseason in which he did not have an injury was the NBA’s Orlando bubble in 2020. Sunday’s sweep fit the broader pattern: a talented team undone by health, timing and another opponent that finished better.
