PHILADELPHIA — The symmetry could not have been purer. The contrast could not have been starker. On a night when the fate of their 2022 seasons might be told, Joel Embiid, in Philadelphia, went to work. Ben Simmons, in Brooklyn, did not. One showed the heart of a lion. The other, the soul of a rat. At 7:16 p.m. Monday, Embiid emerged from the locker room, the last Sixer to go through his warmup routine, his right thumb stabilized with black athletic tape. He winced when he pounded dribbles into the floor, winced again and shook the hand when he took his first shot, but he got ready, and he pla…
