WATCH: Joel Embiid Embarasses Jayson Tatum, Puts Him in the ‘Friendzone’ With Incredible Play in Game 3 vs Celtics

Joel Embiid is not completely healthy yet, but the MVP is fighting hard. He is trying to power his team on both ends of the floor. Not easy in the playoffs even when you’re feeling completely healthy. However, the man is having to play through his knee sprain. And as you’d expect, while the team feels somewhat confident about him playing in the lineup, he is likely playing through a very significant amount of pain. However, he has not let that show too much, if at all during this game. In fact, the man even decided to block Jayson Tatum at the rim. And let’s just say, he put Tatum into the friendzone.

 

Joel Embiid vehemently bashes Jayson Tatum’s shot attempt away early into Game 3

Given that it is his knee that Joel Embiid has been struggling with, any movement that puts a strain on it can feel a bit scary for the man himself. So to go up and challenge anyone would be a big deal. But, to take it a step further, he challenged Jayson Tatum, who had a full head of steam before his shot attempt. And yet, in the end, none of it even mattered. As the announcer calls perfectly, Joel Embiid put Jayson Tatum into the friend zone. Take a look at the clip in the tweet by BallisLife below.

“He put Tatum in the friend zone!”

With friends like Embiid, who needs enemies? 🤭 pic.twitter.com/B67oKwbE7J

— Ball Don’t Lie (@Balldontlie) May 6, 2023

“He put (Jayson) Tatum in the friendzone!”

While Joel Embiid would go on to spend most of the game suffering a deficit, this play was sure to have motivated them to a very high level. After all, there hasn’t been a single moment where the team seemed like they were giving up. Instead, now in the 4^th quarter, they are looking beyond dangerous. However, is this recent run of momentum enough to surpass the Celtics in the final seconds? Only time will tell.