The Cleveland Cavaliers entered the Wells Fargo Center on Saturday night as the No. 2 seed and they held a 1.5 game lead on the Philadelphia 76ers in the standings in the Eastern Conference.
Joel Embiid kicked it into high gear and he dropped 40 points with 14 rebounds and 10 assists to lead the Sixers to a 103-93 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers. It was a big win for Philadelphia as they were able to pick up a win over a team in front of them in the standings to gain a game on them.
Embiid had this one circled on his calendar in order to lead the Sixers to a very important victory.
“For sure,” Embiid stated. “Every team that’s in front of you, you always want to see where you’re at and you want to go out and compete. That’s a really good team, they’ve been doing a great job, so we’re gonna see them three more times so it’s good to get this first one in and see where we are and how we compare to them and hopefully, the next couple of time we see them, we take advantage of what we saw tonight and try to get another win.”
This was an absolutely dominant performance for Embiid as he was able to bounce back from a so-so game on Friday. He had 25 and 19 rebounds in a win over the Oklahoma City Thunder, but he didn’t shoot the ball very well.
The poor showing also could be due to a swollen wrist that he is dealing with.
“Having a bad game last night, obviously, just wanted to come out with a different intensity,” Embiid explained. “Kinda forget about what’s going on as far as injuries and focusing on the game and blocking everything out. That’s a really good team so we just wanted to come out and be aggressive from the start offensively and defensively.”
Until James Harden joins the Sixes, the pressure will be on Embiid in order to lead the way on the offensive end in order for Philadelphia to pick up wins. Saturday was another example of that and it came at a huge moment for them.
“Offensively, nowadays, I guess it seems like if I don’t have 30 or whatever, it seems like a bad game, but just gotta play basketball the right way,” Embiid added. “Like I was saying last night, it’s all about making the right plays, finding my teammates, looking to score, and just being aggressive.”
Not only was Embiid big on the offensive end, but he was a big presence on the defensive end. There were plenty of big moments on a night where the Sixers really needed a stop and he would provide it for Philadelphia.
“With our team, every single night, I have to be dominant in different ways,” he finished. “We’re always talking about offense, but I really care about defense and, as you know, one of my main goals is to be the Defensive Player of the Year so I feel like tonight and the past couple games, we’ve been putting more emphasis on that end especially me. I don’t know where we are ranked defensively, but we are pretty good, I think.”
This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire! Follow us on Facebook!
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