Mikal Bridges delivered some pain to Joel Embiid in Monday’s Game 1.
Bridges and the New York Knicks met Embiid and the Philadelphia 76ers on Monday for the opening game of their second-round playoff series. In the second quarter at Madison Square Garden in New York, N.Y., Embiid was setting a screen for 76ers teammate Tyrese Maxey.
While attempting to fight over the screen, Bridges hit Embiid right in the midsection area. Bridges appeared to give a little bit of an extra arm extension into Embiid, and the seven-footer was left doubled over in pain by the hit.
Here is the video.
Joel Embiid suffers from a pain in the mid-section, after Mikal Bridges collides with him. Kelly Oubre Jr. scores the And-1 pic.twitter.com/CKnnp8ruuU
— MrBuckBuck (@MrBuckBuckNBA) May 5, 2026
Fans immediately accused Bridges of committing a dirty play on Embiid. Notably, Embiid recently returned from an emergency appendectomy in April that kept him sidelined for multiple weeks.
The former All-Defensive First Team selection Bridges does not have much of a reputation as a dirty player. But that hit during Monday’s game on the former NBA MVP Embiid definitely seemed to have some extra meaning, especially given Embiid’s negative history with the Knicks.
