Keith Pompey: Joel Embiid must remember his career is more important than this year's playoff run

NEW YORK — He began the game by scoring the 76ers’ first three baskets and 15 of their 34 first-quarter points.

This is what responsibility looks like.

He played in the entire first quarter despite being hit above his left eye.

This is what accountability feels like.

He went to the locker room after landing awkwardly on his surgically-repaired left knee and bumping it against Mitchell Robinson after dunking on the New York Knicks center. Yet he returned to play in the Sixers’ 111-104 Game 1 loss to Knicks Saturday at Madison Square Garden.

This is what a warrior’s response looks like.

In more than two unrelenting hours Saturday, Joel Embiid was everywhere and did everything, driving, dunking, blocking and even re-injuring his knee and making a surprise return at the Madison Square Garden.

The Sixers didn’t pull out the victory, but Embiid was clearly prepared to address his playoff history, put his team on his back and push for a deep postseason run.

Welcome to the playoffs. But Embiid needs to be careful because he risked a ton in Game 1 of the Sixers’ series.

That’s why it was surprising that the Sixers put him back in there after re-injuring his knee for the second time in nine days.

The stress Embiid is placing on his ailing knee could lead to an injury that costs him next season. But Embiid was determined to play, finishing with 29 points, eight rebounds, six assists and two steals. After re-injuring his knee, Embiid didn’t have his legs under him in the second half, making just 2 of 12 shots. However, he made 6 of 6 foul shots to score 11 points after intermission.

Right now, Embiid is known as a great regular-season player whose level of play declines in the postseason. But a lot of that has to do with how often he has been injured in the postseason.

So one can fully understand why Embiid was determined to return this season after tearing the meniscus in left knee on Jan. 30 against the Golden State Warriors.

He returned eight weeks later on April 1 against the Oklahoma City Thunder. He averaged 30 points, 8.3 rebounds, and 1.3 blocks in his first four games back.

But Saturday was the second time re-injuring his surgically-repaired left knee.

This time, Embiid went to the locker room with 2 minutes, 37 seconds left in the first half after landing awkwardly and colliding with Robinson.

Back on April 12, he injured it after scoring on a Euro step late in the second quarter. He went to the locker room to get his knee checked out and returned after intermission during both games.

Embiid is showing a lot of heart. And let’s be honest, the Sixers will have a tough time winning this series without him. He knows that and is aware that an early postseason exit will be another stain on his legacy.

That’s why he’s showing us what responsibility, accountability and warrior spirit look like. He just needs to be careful, because his career is more important than this postseason.