CAMDEN, N.J. — The Philadelphia 76ers returned home following a disappointing three-game road trip on which they dropped all three games and fell to .500.
The biggest stat that stood out in the last two losses of the trip was rebounding. The Memphis Grizzlies and the Rockets outmuscled and outhustled Philadelphia on the glass.
This makes one wonder about what Joel Embiid is doing out on the floor when it comes to rebounding. The big fella stands at 7 feet tall. It should be easy for him to just pluck rebounds and give the Sixers possession. He had two rebounds in the first half of Monday’s loss to Houston and had seven for the game.
“That happens,” said coach Doc Rivers. “It does happen. It can be he’s away from the basket. I didn’t watch that game and see that he wasn’t rebounding in the first half, I just saw he didn’t have any rebounds, but that can happen.”
The Sixers will go as far as Embiid takes them. They need him to be at his very best on a nightly basis, and he has to lead the way.
“We need him to be more dominant every night,” said Rivers. “Defensively and offensively and I think he will. When we get everybody back, I think it helps him.”
Maybe it will. When the Sixers have a full team again, maybe that will trigger Embiid to do more out on the floor. With the team so short-handed recently, it has been tough for him to have to go out there and do everything, but as the leader of this group, he has to step up when the time calls for it.
[mm-video type=playlist id=01f09kz5ecxq9bp57b player_id=01f5k5xtr64thj7fw2 image=]
[listicle id=71974]
[lawrence-related id=71951,71944,71968]