The Philadelphia 76ers are led by one of the most dominant players in the league in the form of Joel Embiid. The big fella has the ability to take games over in the blink of an eye in order to ensure victories, as he did on Monday against the Charlotte Hornets.
Despite aggressive double teams the Hornets continued to send at him, Embiid had 43 points, 15 rebounds, and seven assists in a 127-124 overtime win. It was an impressive performance for the big fella and he got back to his efficient ways as he shot 15-for-20 from the floor.
The Sixers did have a tough time getting him the ball in the early part of the game. Charlotte was fronting the post a lot and despite Embiid getting deep position, the Sixers had trouble getting him the ball in some instances.
“They’re playing defense on the other end,” said coach Doc Rivers. “They’re fronting, they’re playing front-back, they’re rotating. The one time out of the timeout, we got the ball to the side, Shake (Milton) made the 3, but they’re not just gonna let him catch the ball. They put pressure on the ball. So it looks easier than what it actually is.”
Milton, who started for an ill Tyrese Maxey, had a tough time getting the ball inside, and that is a skill that he needs to continue to develop and work on. It wasn’t just Milton who had issues. Tobias Harris, Seth Curry, and others had a tough time finding the star big man down low.
“Teams are trying to front me,” said Embiid. “I actually prefer when teams try to front me. We just got to work on it in practice more. We should definitely work on it more. I feel like it’s easier to score that way because I can just work my man up and Tobias throws the ball into me or whatever is there instead of catching the ball and making it easier for defenses to just double me. So that’s something that we should do more often.”
While the Sixers had a tough time identifying the doubles in the early part of the matchup on Monday, Embiid still had a dominant game. The perimeter players will just have to find a way to figure out how to dump the ball into him and allow him to go to work early and often rather than delaying his groove a bit.
“Tonight, it didn’t work,” Embiid finished. “We gotta keep on getting better.”
This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire! Follow us on Facebook!
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