Did Joel Embiid get hit with 'dirty' shot from Knicks star after appendectomy?

[ASFN Admin]

Joel Embiid has made an incredible comeback from an appendectomy to lift the Philadelphia 76ers into the Eastern Conference semifinals against the New York Knicks.

But maybe he's not fully healed from the surgery, as we saw in Game 1 -- in the second quarter, Mikal Bridges rammed into a screening Embiid and hit the Sixers star in the stomach. Embiid immediately grabbed that area in pain and was writhing for a few moments.

After the game, Embiid was asked about the play and had this to say: "I don’t know if it was dirty or not. I guess I got to do a better job of protecting my [stomach]."

"I don’t think that was necessary," he added, "But we move on. It's whatever, it’s playoff basketball, if that's the reality of it, I guess we got to be physical too and do it too.”

Joel Embiid: “I don’t know if it was dirty or not. I guess I got to do a better job of protecting [myself].

“I don’t think that was necessary…But we move on. It’s whatever. It’s playoff basketball…I guess we got to be physical too and do it too.”

pic.twitter.com/65J6rDk3VShttps://t.co/d8gysTs2U5

— SPORTSRADIO 94WIP (@SportsRadioWIP) May 5, 2026

“I don’t know if it was dirty or not…I just felt like it was unnecessary…I guess we gotta…do it too”

— Joel Embiid on Mikal Bridges making contact with the area he just got an appendectomy pic.twitter.com/sb8zvXBsFk

— New York Basketball (@NBA_NewYork) May 5, 2026

Some Knicks fans noted that Embiid has had what some might call some dirty moments, including the infamous incident with Mitchell Robinson in 2024.

This guy calling ANYONE dirty is RICH pic.twitter.com/faUN5u2Wws

— Jeremy Schneider @jeremyschneider.bsky.social (@J_Schneider) May 5, 2026

Was it on purpose? Hard to tell. We'll see if the Sixers respond in some way.

This article originally appeared on For The Win: Was Joel Embiid hit with dirty shot from Mikal Bridges after appendectomy?

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