NEW YORK — He began the game by scoring the 76ers’ first three baskets and 15 of their 34 first-quarter points.

This is what responsibility looks like.

He played in the entire first quarter despite being hit above his left eye.

This is what accountability feels like.

He went to the locker room after landing awkwardly on his surgically-repaired left knee and bumping it against Mitchell Robinson after dunking on the New York Knicks center. Yet he returned to play in the Sixers’ 111-104 Game 1 loss to Knicks Saturday at Madison Square Garden.

This is what a warrior’s response looks like.

In more than two unrelenting hours Saturday, Joel Embiid was everywhere and did everything, driving, dunking, blocking and even re-injuring his knee and making a surprise return at the Madison Square Garden.

The Sixers didn’t pull out the victory, but Embiid was clearly prepared to address his playoff history, put his team on his back and push for a deep postseason run.

Welcome to the playoffs. But Embiid needs to be careful because he risked a ton in Game 1 of the Sixers’ series.

That’s why it was surprising that the Sixers put him back in there after re-injuring his knee for the second time in nine days.

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