Oft-injured Joel Embiid has brought his share of pain to the Knicks

Injuries have been the defining characteristic of the career of Joel Embiid, every accomplishment accompanied by the question of what could he have been if he’d only been healthy and able to avoid the litany of injuries that delayed the start of his career and have limited him all the way up until now as he and the 76ers arrive in New York to begin the Eastern Conference semifinal matchup with the Knicks.

But it’s not his injuries that really are the story as these teams face off, but the ones he has caused as he bumped, bruised and grabbed his way through the postseason matchup two years ago.

There was an elbow directed at Jalen Brunson that incited the normally calm Knicks captain, and a technical foul after he ran into Isaiah Hartenstein. And the most notable, the grab from the floor of Mitchell Robinson’s ankle, a play that was ruled a Flagrant 1. The play shut Robinson down for the second half of Game 3 of that opening-round series, forced him to sit out the next game, and then after a brief effort to play on, he was shut down for the rest of the postseason and underwent surgery in the offseason.

Robinson took the high road when asked Sunday if he thought Embiid was a dirty player. "I don’t,” Robinson said. “I really don’t live in the past. It is what it is. I just move on.”

But asked if there was still a lingering feeling that he didn’t get to finish the playoffs that year because of Embiid, he at least conceded, “I guess.”

It’s a far different response than the one Robinson had when the injury occurred and he was shut down during the next series against Indiana for what the team called left ankle management. At that time, the frustration was evident as he wrote on social media, “This is so [expletive] up dawg like I don’t even know what to say. This is not over! I WILL SEEK REVENGE.”

Former Knick Donte DiVincenzo, who went nose to nose with Embiid as the two sides angrily faced off with Robinson on the ground — well, actually nose to chest since Embiid is about 10 inches taller than him — said that day, “It was dirty.”

Josh Hart, after that game, said, “I’m all for tough fouls, playoff fouls, but that’s something that can put a guy out for a significant amount of time.”

But Robinson insists that he harbors no ill will and has moved past it. That’s a good thing since the NBA’s eyes will likely be on him after he was ejected from Game 6 of the opening-round series Thursday for a scuffle with Atlanta’s Dyson Daniels — and his fine was upped because of a social media post the NBA described as inappropriate.

Robinson had the league discuss the post with him. Asked about what the conversation was like, he said, “Honestly, I forgot. I wasn’t paying attention.”

Robinson didn’t play into the past, just describing the challenge and rematch as “he’s a great player and it’s fun playing against him and stuff like that.”

Fun isn’t the way most of the opponents describe it — including the player who now will take the lead role against Embiid, Karl-Anthony Towns. Those two had a lengthy war of words and had a fight on the court in 2019. No punches were thrown as they wrestled with each other and were ejected, leading to more words on social media and an eventual detente.

While Robinson is the better defender, Towns did raise his defensive game in the first round of the playoffs this season, no small reason why the Knicks advanced to the conference semifinals where they now hold home-court advantage thanks to Philadelphia knocking out second-seeded Boston. But offensively, Towns also presents a huge challenge for Embiid.

Towns and Embiid are two of the most offensively skilled centers to ever play the game, both dangerous perimeter shooters. The difference right now, though, is that Towns has been at full strength and finally appears to have found his fit in the Mike Brown offense, while Embiid has had to battle through the usual series of injuries. He returned sooner than expected from an emergency appendectomy, getting back for the final four games of the first-round upset of Boston. His surprising comeback was obviously accompanied by an unavoidable lack of conditioning, yet in that final game he scored 34 points, grabbed 12 rebounds and handed out six assists, working a constant and dangerous pick-and-roll with Tyrese Maxey. But he had to leave late in Game 7 after Maxey accidentally rolled back into his knee.

“I feel great,” Embiid joked afterward. “I feel amazing. I was faking it.”

Still, Embiid is always approached with caution. He only played in two of the four meetings with the Knicks this season. In the first game he faced them, Philadelphia used Dominick Barlow and Adem Bona on Towns more than Embiid. In the other game three weeks later, Embiid had 38 points, splitting the domination against Towns, Robinson and OG Anunoby.

Still, the Knicks enter this series with options — and healthy ones. Brown and the Knicks coaching staff have shown a willingness to mix and match. So Anunoby may take on the assignment more than Towns, and the Knicks can use Robinson — with an eye toward that two-year old revenge.

“He’ll be big,” Brown said of Robinson. “Mitch is unique so no matter who we play, he is extremely important to what we are trying to do, the way he offensive rebounds, the way he’s a a vertical threat, the pick-and-roll game, the way he protects the rim, his versatility guarding. He can switch on to some ones and some twos. He can’t guard those guys the whole possession but he can make it tough. We need to bring it to a high level as well as anyone else.”

By Steve Popper

steve.popper@newsday.com@StevePopper

Steve Popper covers the Knicks for Newsday. He has spent nearly three decades covering the Knicks and the NBA, along with just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.