Joel Embiid had a great regular season with the Philadelphia 76ers, which is why he was named NBA MVP. However, Doc Rivers‘ team missed those performances during the playoffs.
Once again, the Sixers failed to get past the Eastern Conference semifinals – blowing a 3-2 lead against the Boston Celtics. No one could get how the big man’s level dropped so much when it mattered the most, as they were counting on him to succeed.
The postseason failure cost Rivers his job, but he doesn’t have any hard feelings on his former players. In an interview with Bill Simmons, the former 76ers coach explained why Embiid couldn’t play at his best in the playoffs.
Doc Rivers says injuries held Joel Embiid back
“Number one, he has to be healthy,” Rivers said, as quoted by Heavy.com. “If you look at his numbers in the last three years in the playoffs, compared to his regular season numbers, they’re not very good…
“The first year I had him, he hurts his knee. The next year, he hits his face and tears ligaments in his hand, and then this year he has a knee injury and he was never the same once he came back this year. So health is No. 1.”
Embiid is not the first MVP to struggle in the playoffs, but still, his decline let Philly fans down. The team has already started to make changes this offseason, so next year we’ll see whether he can bounce back.
