PHILADELPHIA–The Philadelphia 76ers got a bit of a scare in the first quarter of their 121-11 win over the Toronto Raptors on Friday night. The big fella landed awkwardly on his right ankle and was on the ground in pain for a bit.
He eventually would get up and walk to the bench under his own power. He also remained in the game, but it certainly looked like the ankle was bothering him a bit out on the floor.
He only had 11 points at the half and he appeared to be limping a bit before he turned it on in the second half to finish with 31, 10 rebounds, and nine assists on the night. Not bad for a guy who was dealing with an ankle issue.
“It’s fine,” Embiid said of his ankle. “I’m just gonna have it checked out, but I don’t know. We’ll see.”
The Sixers will next hit the road to take on the Miami Heat on Christmas Day so it will be interesting to see if the big fella will be able to play in that one.
As far as his big second half, the big fella had 20 points on 7-for-13 shooting after halftime. He was out-running the Raptors in the open court and he was finishing in transition over and around defenders.
It was a far different effort compared to a pretty listless first half.
“I wasn’t being aggressive,” explained Embiid. “I think I took two shots in the first six or seven minutes, but like I said, I keep mentioning it, a couple times, I just let the game come to me. I didn’t force anything, even after a few turnovers, slow starts, I didn’t force shots. It came to me and then in the third quarter, I just found opportunities and made a few shots.”
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