Joel Embiid wants to win shorthanded Philadelphia 76ers

Joel Embiid was familiar with the situation his Philadelphia 76ers found themselves in on Tuesday night against the visiting Miami Heat.

Playing shorthanded for the third game in a row and the second night in a row – and that was before the two available Philadelphia point guards, Ben Simmons and Tyrese Maxey, were eliminated – it would have been easy. for the Sixers to put it away.

Embiid, however, had other ideas.

Thanks to a dominant second half – in which he scored 35 of his 45 points, a season-high, with 16 rebounds, four assists and five steals for a final stat line, only Charles Barkley tied. in a Sixers uniform in nearly a century – Embiid managed to drag the Sixers to the finish line, as they claimed a 137-134 overtime victory at the Wells Fargo Center.

“It was necessary,” Embiid said of his performance, which included an 11-point straight streak for the Sixers, from the tying basket with 3.3 seconds left in regulation until he hits a midrange jumper with 2:03 to go. overtime. “We needed it tonight.

“We have lost three games in a row. Our mentality should always be that we should never lose two games in a row, and we have lost three in a row,” he explained, “there was so there’s no way we’re going to lose four games in a row. So whatever I had to do and everything my teammates had to do, we did and we won. “

The fact that Philadelphia snapped their losing streak and returned to the winning column was largely Embiid’s doing – something that didn’t look like it was going to happen at halftime. Embiid had 10 points and seven rebounds at the break, but he wasn’t really involved – although he did more than Simmons, who struggled a lot after missing the previous two games with swollen left knee. Simmons committed five turnovers in the first half and ultimately fouled with five points and 12 assists to go with six turnovers in 32 minutes.

But as Simmons struggled, Embiid came out of the break a man had. Embiid scored 20 points in the third quarter alone to start bringing the game back in the direction of Philadelphia, putting the team on the back thanks, in part, to a slight adjustment from Sixers coach Doc Rivers to hand the ball over to them. at different places on the ground. ground.

“We put him in the middle of the field,” said Rivers, “because every time we put him under the free throw line, as far as the throw is concerned to him, that’s where they came from.

“I thought [Miami] really struggled, finding where to trap or who to trap; and that also allowed Joel to see when people were trapping him where to throw the ball, so it’s a good fit. “

“[But] he wanted this game for us tonight, ”the coach said of Embiid.

This was especially true once Simmons and Maxey escaped. Embiid had the ball in his hands virtually every move on the pitch after that, with Rivers essentially deploying it as a point cross.

Rivers said the Sixers played essentially the same game – called “Delay,” a Philly had only set up Tuesday morning at the shoot by chance – out of necessity for most of the fourth quarter and overtime because the guards point had committed a fault.

“Sometimes life is luck,” Rivers said with a laugh. “We were laughing on the bench. … It’s amazing. We’re working on it today, and then it ends up being a savior for us.”

Embiid, meanwhile, was pretty happy to have the chance to have the ball in his hands.

“Playing center point, point guard or whatever you want to call it, I like that,” he says. “That works well.”

For Embiid, who has never shied away from making his feelings known, maybe part of that second-half wave came from a place of frustration with the NBA for the Sixers to continue playing at a disadvantage. digital. It was the third game in a row where the Sixers have lost several key elements after bringing a large number of players into the league’s health and safety protocols following Seth Curry’s positive test last week in Brooklyn.

After the NBA postponed the Heat’s game against the Boston Celtics on Sunday – a day after the Sixers had only seven healthy players available for a home loss to the Denver Nuggets – Embiid tweeted, “THEY HATE THE PROCESS “, in what could be seen as a shot in the NBA for not having done the same for his team the day before.

Asked after Tuesday’s game whether Philly should have played, Embiid didn’t hesitate in his response.

“No,” he said. “It looks like every other game keeps getting called off. But we, I guess the league keeps playing us. There’s really no other explanation behind that, especially this Denver game, when we had to. dress an injured player just to be sure.we had enough players to be able to compete – whereas other teams that didn’t have that many players and the league didn’t have an injured player dressed, just to s ‘ensure that there is a match in progress.

“It’s unfortunate, but he’s the next man. You can’t complain. Wins always count, losses always count; we have to get all these wins. We have to keep fighting until these guys are back, and that’s our job. “

Another motivating point for Embiid this season has been left out last year’s All-NBA teams. Embiid has made it clear he deserves to be named one of the league’s top three centers, and he’s motivated to prove people wrong for leaving him out this season.

After Tuesday’s game, Embiid is now averaging over 26 points and 12 rebounds per game so far this campaign. And when asked if he was still motivated by last season’s awards, he replied that he was – while adding that it would take care of himself, provided the Sixers continue to get victories this season.

“It’s true, but that’s not what I’m focusing on,” he said. “The main goal is to win a championship. When it comes to individual awards, that can’t happen unless you win games. So the main thing that worries me is winning.

“Because at the end of the day, if I win, if we win and we get the first seed, there is no reason for you to know that I shouldn’t be in MVP conversations, defensive player of the year, All-NBA First Team and all that. “

“It all comes down to the same thing: winning,” he added. “But the main objective is to win the championship; we are trying to prepare for what is to come, the playoffs and [getting] at this level. So like I said it all comes down to winning. “