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Tim BontempsESPN
Joel Embiid was aware of the situation of his Philadelphia 76ers on Tuesday night against the Miami Heat.
Playing short-handed for the third consecutive game and the second consecutive night – and that was before the two available Philadelphia guardsmen, Ben Simmons and Tyrese Maxey, missed – would have been easy for the Sixers to pack.
Embiid, however, had other ideas.
Thanks to a dominant second half – in which he scored 35 of his 45 points, the best of the season, with 16 rebounds, four assists and five steals for a final line of statistics, only Charles Barkley matched a Sixers uniform in almost half a century – Embiid was able to drag the Sixers over the finish line, while they achieved a 137-134 win in extra time at the Wells Fargo Center.
“It was necessary,” said Embiid of his performance, which included a stretch of 11 consecutive points for the Sixers, from the draw basket with 3.3 seconds to enter the regulation until he hit a mid-size jumper with 2:03 to enter overtime. “We needed that tonight.”
“We have lost three games in a row. Our mindset should always be that we should never lose two games in a row and we have lost three games in a row,” he explained, “so there was no chance of losing four in one. So everything I had to do and everything what my teammates had to do, we did it and got the win. “
The fact that Philadelphia broke its losing streak and returned to the winning column was largely the work of Embiid – something that did not look like it was about to happen in the interval. Embiid had 10 points and seven rebounds in the interval, but was not exactly involved – although he did more than Simmons, who fought hard after losing the previous two games with a swelling in his left knee. Simmons committed five twists in the first half and was eliminated with five points and 12 assists, resulting in six twists in 32 minutes.
But while Simmons was fighting, Embiid stepped out of the range owned by a man. Embiid scored 20 points in the third quarter alone to start swinging the game towards Philadelphia, putting the team on their backs thanks in part to a slight adjustment by Sixers coach Doc Rivers to place the ball at different points on the floor .
“We put him in the middle of the court,” said Rivers, “because whenever we put him below the free-throw line, as we shot him, that’s where they were coming from.
“I thought [Miami] really struggled to find out where to arrest or who to get rid of; and it also allowed Joel to see when people were pinning him where to throw the ball, so it’s a good fit. “
“[But] he wished this game for us tonight, “said the coach about Embiid.
This was especially true after Simmons and Maxey made a mistake. Embiid had the ball in his hands on virtually every trip around the court after that, with Rivers essentially deploying it as a central point.
Rivers said the Sixers made essentially the same move – called a “Delay”, which Philly just installed on Tuesday morning in the shootaround by chance – out of necessity for most of the fourth period and in overtime because the shipowners missed.
“Sometimes life is lucky,” said Rivers with a laugh. “We were laughing at the bank … It’s incredible. We work on it today, and then it ends up being a savior for us.”
Embiid was very happy with the chance to have the ball in his hands.
“Playing center point, point guard or whatever you want to call it, I like it,” he said. “It has worked well.”
For Embiid, who was never ashamed to express his feelings, perhaps part of the second half wave came out of frustration with the NBA because the Sixers continued to play with few players. This was the third consecutive game in which the Sixers lost several important components after a series of players entered the league’s health and safety protocols after the positive Seth Curry test last week in Brooklyn.
After the NBA postponed the Heat game against the Boston Celtics on Sunday – the day after the Sixers had only seven healthy players available for a home defeat against the Denver Nuggets – Embiid tweeted, “THEY HATE THE PROCESS”, in what could be perceived as a shot in the NBA for not doing the same for his team the day before.
Asked after Tuesday’s game whether Philly should be playing, Embiid did not hesitate in his response.
“No,” he said. “It looks like all the other games are being canceled. But we, I think the league keeps making us play. There is really no other explanation behind that, especially that Denver game, when we had to dress up an injured player just to have we sure had enough players to be able to compete – while other teams that didn’t have that many players and the league didn’t make any of them dress an injured player, just to make sure there’s a game.
“This is unfortunate, but he’s the next man. You can’t complain. Victories still count, losses still count; we need to get all of those victories. We need to keep fighting until these guys come back, and that’s our job.”
Another point of motivation for Embiid this season was to let go of last year’s All-NBA teams. Embiid said he thought he deserved to be named one of the top three centers in the league, and was motivated to prove that people were wrong to leave him out this season.
After Tuesday’s game, Embiid now averages more than 26 points and 12 rebounds per game so far in this campaign. And when asked if he is still building up motivation by rejecting last season’s awards, he said yes – adding that it will take care of itself as long as the Sixers continue to win this season.
“Yeah, but that’s not what I’m focused on,” he said. “The main objective is to win a championship. When it comes to individual prizes, this cannot happen unless you are winning games. So, the main thing that worries me is winning.
“Because at the end of the day, if I win, if we win and get the first seed, there’s no reason for you to know that I shouldn’t be in MVP, Defensive Player of the Year talks, All-NBA main team and all that stuff . “
“It all comes back to the same thing: winning,” he added. “But the main objective is to win the championship; we’re trying to prepare for what’s to come, the playoffs and [getting] at that level. So, as I said, it all comes down to victory. “