Philadelphia 76ers big man Joel Embiid can score in any way possible. The reigning league MVP can finish around the basket. He works well in the post, and his jump shot is always on point.
In Saturday’s 135-82 win over the Charlotte Hornets, Embiid had 42 points on 18-for-23 shooting and he did it mostly with jumpers. The big fella squared up against Charlotte big men Nick Richards and Nate Mensah and calmly knocked down a barrage of mid-range jumpers.
“I just think he’s just really feeling confident about it,” coach Nick Nurse told reporters. “Obviously, I love the rhythm he is taking it in. It hits his hands, it’s going up. There is not a lot of holding, surveying and looking around, which you know if he’s open, he should go into the rhythm and right up, still mixing it up enough.”
When Embiid is able to score in different areas of the floor, he is able to expand his game and affect the game at a higher level. Saturday was a perfect example. It was the jump shot. It was his work in the post and his work without the ball to just catch and go up.
“I thought again, he’s going inside and the guys keep finding him in there, just enough up in transition and a few duck-ins here and there,” Nurse added. “It’s good. I want to make sure he keeps mixing those in there. Those are super high percentage. I mean, everything was high percentage tonight (Saturday), but those are super high percentage. Again, he comes out ready to go like he said, ‘I come out to dominate every night,’ and that’s a great mindset.”
Normally when Embiid scores a bunch of points, it’s because he got to the free-throw line often. The fact he only took six against the Hornets and still finished with 42 is impressive.
“He made a lot of jump shots,” Tyrese Maxey added. “He didn’t shoot a lot of free throws. I thought he shot more free throws, but he didn’t. Partially because every single time he shot a jumper, it felt like it was going in so he was good tonight.”
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