Sixers 109, Pistons 99: Joel Embiid's 32 points in the first half allow the Sixers to win



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THE SCORE OF THE BOX

After all the trashy speech and the drama of their last meeting, Joel Embiid faced André Drummond very seriously. Embiid was determined to make his battle Saturday afternoon a one-sided enmity.

Embiid scored 39 points and 17 rebounds while the Sixers beat the Pistons, 109-99, to improve to 6-4 and 6-0 at home. His 32 points in the first half set a record for the Wells Fargo Center.

• In the first three minutes, Embiid proceeded as follows:

-Blue past Drummond for a dunk, and then gave him a beautiful, long staredown.

An early technical foul for a contact after the whistle against Blake Griffin.

-Converted one against one with a clever finish left-handed against Drummond.

-Beat Drummond on the ground for a transition lane, courtesy of Ben Simmons.

-Drummond force forced to the bench with two early mistakes.

The rest of the half was more or less the same. Embiid scored the first seven points of the match and the first eight points of the second quarter. Almost every Embiid touch was a guaranteed basket or a fault of Pistons. Drummond had three fouls and Zaza Pachulia four in the first 15 minutes of the match.

After passing 18 for 23 from the foul line against the Pistons, Embiid has now attempted 99 free throws, 32 more than any other NBA player.

With another performance of 30 points, 10 rebounds, Embiid joined a pretty impressive list.

As for Drummond, he had eight points and nine rebounds in 20 minutes. Not his best day. The third round will take place Dec. 7 in Detroit.

• Wilson Chandler made his Sixers debut, recording four rebounds and four faults in nine minutes. Brett Brown said before the game that the team would be cautious about Chandler while he was coming back from a left hamstring strain so the restriction would not go away quickly. Chandler will make his debut as a substitute for Robert Covington, but in the end, Brown said he could play goalkeeper by shooter power, even in extreme situations.

• With the return of Chandler, it seemed that rookie Landry Shamet was perhaps the strange man. But if Shamet continues to play as well as he has been, it will be impossible to kick him out.

Brown praised Shamet Friday, praising his maturity, his shot and his defensive effort. All of these qualities were on display against Detroit.

Shamet eliminated two by three in the first period and converted an easy lay-up for a nice backdoor in the third quarter. He scored 11 points out of 4 for 7 shots. The Sixers outperformed the Pistons by 13 points when Shamet was down.

• Just like Thursday night against the Clippers, the Sixers let the opposition take a big lead at halftime, while Detroit scored 13 points in a row to start the third quarter. This is obviously not a major concern when you win, but it's a problem for last season that the Sixers do not want to become a trend this year.

The fact that the Sixers strengthened their lead in the third quarter, dismissing Simment and Embiid from rude problems and Markelle Fultz and Shamet in the backyard, is encouraging.

The Pistons reduced the deficit to five points in the fourth period, but the Sixers avoided a terrible collapse, thanks to the decisive shots of JJ Redick and Mike Muscala.

• Although Fultz did not have a big offensive game (four points on one for six shots and three assists), he continues to make defensive progress. In the Sixers defeat against the Pistons on October 23, Brett Brown preferred to prefer T.J. McConnell over Fultz because he trusted his experience and defense.

Saturday's defense of Fultz was far from a handicap. His instinct for knowing how to keep the ball screens improved and his efforts were excellent. He also showed his athleticism more on this tip of the floor, making games featuring.

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