5 things we learned from the 76ers’ dismantling of the Heat

3. Joel Embiid’s mask could be an issue

Though Embiid returned from the orbital fracture that sidelined him for 10 games, he isn’t out of the woods yet. Until (unless?) he gets comfortable with the mask he’s now required to wear, the big man may not be his All-NBA self in these playoffs.

While Embiid averaged 18.7 points across his three games against Miami in this series, he was noticeably rusty, shooting just 41.7 percent from the field. He also coughed the ball up a whopping 15 times, including eight times alone in Game 4.

Head coach Brett Brown chalked up Embiid’s rust to his lengthy layoff, but the big man admitted the mask was bothering him.

“I can’t use it as an excuse,” Embiid told reporters ahead of Game 5 in reference to his mask. “I have to get used to it. I said before that it is the only way I can be on the court. So I’ve just got to deal with it.”

Even as Embiid struggled on offense — he shot a combined 7-of-22 in Games 3 and 4 — he was aware of he can make an impact on other facets of the game.

“When the offense is not working well for me, I can do a lot of things, be a beast defensively, offensively set screens, roll and get offensive rebounds, play with energy if the shots are not falling,” he said Monday. “So there is a lot of stuff that I can do offensively. But I think the main thing, especially when it doesn’t go my way, is to be a beast defensively.”

Embiid had his best shooting outing against Miami in Game 5, finishing with 19 points on 8-of-14 shooting, and he’ll now have nearly a week off before taking on either the Celtics or Bucks in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals. If he doesn’t grow more acclimated to his limited field of vision in the mask, however, the 76ers may not have a full-strength Embiid for the remainder of these playoffs.

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