Every once in a while, a superstar must be humbled a bit to regain his aggressiveness. For Philadelphia 76ers star big man Joel Embiid, it was a November night in Toronto that got him back to normal a bit.
Embiid went scoreless that night for the first time in his career in a close loss to the Toronto Raptors and ever since then, Embiid has responded in a big way.
He has averaged 30.6 points and he has taken 14.6 free-throw attempts in the three games since. That is the type of production the Sixers expect out of who they consider to be their “crown jewel”. He is the team’s clear best player and that night against the Raptors was unacceptable and he knew it.
Coach Brett Brown has been happy with Embiid as he stated:
It’s a mentality. That is a disposition and a mentality, and it is more than a stat. To me, we shot 40 free throws last night and had 36 tonight. I like both of those things and you sure like them a lot more when you make them, but Embiid made a statement. Nobody can underestimate the hurt that he felt after the Toronto game where he felt like he let us down. We have seen him respond.
The Sixers know once the ball is dumped down to Embiid down low, there is no stopping him. He either gets fouled or he scores, there’s no in-between. His play down low forced Pacers big man Domantas Sabonis to foul out as he romped his way to a big game.
Teammate Tobias Harris added on Embiid:
I think we’re at our best when Joel’s that aggressive, he summons attention, double teams, and he’s been a willing passer to make plays out of that. It overall helps everybody just because he’s such a focal point, so if you’re coming off pick-and-rolls they’re going back to him and whatnot. I mean he’s a beast, you can’t guard him down there. You either foul or hope he misses.
The Sixers leading man will get another test on Monday when defending Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert and the Utah Jazz invade the Wells Fargo Center on Monday. [lawrence-related id=20365,20357,20347]