Joel Embiid Misses Shootaround Before Game 5 Against Knicks Angering Fans

The NBA Playoff have yet against not gone the way that Joel Embiid and the Philadelphia 76ers would have hoped.

The Sixers are down 3-1 to the New York Knicks in the opening round of the Eastern Conference playoffs and on the precipe of another disappointing exit.

Prior to Tuesday night’s Game 5 at Madison Square Garden, the reigning NBA MVP missed his team’s shootaround while dealing with a migraine, and fans weren’t happy about it.

Embiid’s migraine symptoms are a result of a recent bout with Bell’s Palsy.

The National Institute of Health defines the disease as follows:

“Bell’s palsy is a neurological disorder that causes paralysis or weakness on one side of the face. It occurs when one of the nerves that controls muscles in the face becomes injured or stops working properly. Bell’s palsy is the most common cause of facial paralysis.”

Treatments can range anywhere from medicine, to therapy and even surgery.

Symptoms include:

• Sudden weakness or paralysis on one side of the face
• A drooping eyebrow and mouth
• Drooling from one side of the mouth
• Difficulty closing one eyelid, which causes eye dryness

Embiid has been dealing with the disease since around the time of the 76ers play-in game against Miami Heat. He’s also working his way back from a torn meniscus for which he had surgery mid-way through the regular season.

But fans are tired of losing and didn’t appear willing to give the big man any grace.

Is Embiid going to play in Game 5? Almost certainly.

Have any of these people actually dealt with a migraine before? Probably not!

But when you’re a fan, or a hater, or anywhere in between, you’re allowed to come on the internet and say whatever you want.

Meanwhile, Embiid and the Sixers are left to sit there and take it until they win a playoff series of note.