The Philadelphia 76ers have eliminated Boston Celtics in five games in the Conference Semifinals, but the team is optimistic about the future. This is especially true for All-Star Joel Embiid.
The center is already looking forward to the offseason because for the first time since he has been in the NBA, he is going into the NBA healthy and can work on his game and his body accordingly. The Cameroonian, plagued by injury, also had to recover from an operation last summer.
“I think I can definitely play an MVP-style season next year, but it all starts with my body,” said Embiid, who also missed the first two games in the playoffs and never completely reached his physical top form.
Embiid scored 21.4 points and 12.6 rebounds on average in eight play-off games, but his odds were not particularly high – Embiid scored 43.5 percent from the field and 27.6 percent from the triple line. It wasn’t enough against the Celtics because rookie star Ben Simmons didn’t get the same chance as he did against Miami in the first round.
Embiid also admitted that his team was a little dazzled by the first round and the hype. They thought the duel with Boston “would be a bit too easy. I can’t lie about that,” Embiid said.