The Philadelphia 76ers were able to rally and escape with a 117-107 win over the short-handed New Orleans Pelicans on Tuesday night to begin a 5-game homestand. The team trailed by as many as 10 and they were able to quickly turn things around in order to win by the same amount.
The Sixers were able to do so because Joel Embiid decided that enough was enough. He had 18 points at halftime with Philadelphia down by eight, but he was able to erupt in the second half and he finished with 42 points and 14 rebounds in order to lead the Sixers to the win.
“Just his dominance is huge for us,” said Tobias Harris. “As a whole, as a group, what he brings to this team tonight and you even seen tonight, he’s fighting every game and he’s going out there and try to do whatever he can to help the team win. He’s playing in all the games, too. He’s going. It’s a long season and we have a lot of games, but that’s a big guy out there to play like a guard. The moves he makes, the plays that he makes out there is really impressive.”
Even to begin the third quarter, Embiid scored the first 10 points before Furkan Korkmaz knocked down a triple to break his streak. The big fella was just dominant as the Pelicans didn’t have an answer.
“Overall, I think they couldn’t guard him,” laughed Korkmaz. “You don’t need to be so smart to say that, but whenever he has the ball, it feels like he knows what he’s doing. He doesn’t rush, he reads the game, he reads the floor, especially in the second half, he knows that we expect some push from him so we gotta go with him. I think in the second half, he was the one that set the tone.”
Embiid also led a big defensive second half that helped the Sixers get it done. After New Orleans shot 52.3% and 6-for-12 from deep in the first half to lead it 58-50, Philadelphia held the Pelicans to 43.6% shooting and 49 points after halftime.
“He’s a great player,” said coach Doc Rivers. “I think that’s the best way to describe it. A great player playing really well, really focused, being a great leader for our guys. At halftime, he was the first guy who raised his hand and said ‘It’s on me, it’s on me. I gotta play better defense to get us better’, he’s just been very good. It’s great for me.”
The biggest example for Embiid was Pelicans big man Willy Hernangomez only scored eight points after halftime. This comes after he scored 21 in the first half.
“Just being aggressive,” said Embiid. “Getting to the ball on their guards, pressuring them. I think it was just about being aggressive because in the first half, everything was easy for them. They were able to get to their spots so we did a better job in the second half.”
This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire! Follow us on Facebook!
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