Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid took five steps off the charity stripe and looked down at the floor after missing a free throw.
Embiid did not take part in Thursday morning’s shootaround because of an illness. And it showed last night.
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The big man is enjoying an elite midrange shooting season, but on this night against the Memphis Grizzlies, he could not shoot straight. When Embiid put his head down, he was 1 of 8 from the field and 5 of 8 from the free-throw line.
Things looked bleak for the Sixers. Embiid had played all 12 minutes of the first quarter, and the Sixers still trailed by 15. Over the past six years, losing during his minutes to that degree typically results in a loss. So, what was going through Embiid’s mind at that moment?
“Defensively, I thought I had to be Bill Russell tonight to be able to kind of balance it out,” Embiid said.
The Sixers have won over two-thirds of their games, but very few of those have been consistent performances. Sometimes they build a big lead and let it fritter away. Other times, they dig a big hole and climb out of it.
Thursday was the latter, a 110-105 comeback victory over the second-best team in the Western Conference. It’s the fifth time the Sixers have overcome a 15-point deficit this season, per Elias Sports Bureau. That is tied for second most in the NBA.
To sum things up: The Sixers, who are 25-3 when leading at halftime, come back from big deficits more often than they blow big leads. But wire-to-wire consistency is not this group’s forte.
Outside of one notable exception, the Sixers weren’t sharp offensively against Memphis. Some of that was poor shot-making, but Memphis’ second-ranked defense made life difficult. The Grizzlies were flying around, and Jaren Jackson Jr., a front-runner for NBA Defensive Player of the Year, played roamer and helped aggressively off of P.J. Tucker and Paul Reed.
The Sixers managed just 47 points in the first half. For them to claw back, they had to hang around. They had to stick with it. Specifically, they had to defend.
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That effort started with Embiid. He paired one of his worst offensive performances of the season with one of his best defensive games. Despite shooting 7 of 25 from the field, Embiid finished the game with 19 rebounds and six blocks. The rebounds were a season high, and it was the second time this season he had more than four blocks. Whatever Embiid was dealing with, it did not affect his defense.
“Joel was a two-way player,” Sixers coach Doc Rivers said. “And if you take away what someone does best, what else can they do to help the team? … If you took away his offense, what else did he do? Well, he had six blocks, he had 19 rebounds, he had six assists. And that tells you just how great the guy is.”
Embiid said there were two reasons for his defensive clinic. The first was the opponent: Memphis, led by Ja Morant’s downhill attacks, leads the NBA in points in the paint. Against Morant and his crew, Embiid was hypervigilant patrolling the restricted area. As bricks piled up on one end, blocks stacked up on the other.
Embiid also admitted his defense tends to pick up when his offense struggles. In some ways, that admission doesn’t reflect well on Embiid. It might explain some of why this Sixers team does just enough to win games … but not anything more. If Embiid’s offense and defense simultaneously clicked at the highest levels, perhaps the Sixers would win a few more laughers.
But Embiid has reason to pace himself. He shoulders one of the greatest offensive loads in the NBA. He also understands the Sixers have an elite defense when he plays because he acts as a deterrent. Teams shoot less frequently at the rim because Embiid’s 7-foot-2 frame is often standing near it. Just like how he doesn’t like catching lobs on offense, he would rather stay on the ground on defense if he can.
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Against a team like Memphis, that wasn’t an option. This assignment required more than deterrence. To quote Sam Hinkie, the Sixers needed “violence at the rim.” Embiid supplied that from the opening tip. It was as if the basketball gods rewarded Embiid’s defensive intensity throughout the game with a highlight-reel block on Morant in crunchtime.
“I think there’s a pattern with myself,” Embiid said. “I think if you watch most of the games where I have bad shooting nights and I just can’t make the shots that I usually do, I usually go from having a good defensive game to an amazing defensive game. That’s part of it.”
It wasn’t just Embiid who struggled offensively. Tyrese Maxey was inefficient, finishing with more shots than points. De’Anthony Melton finished with zero points against his old team. The rest of the Sixers’ bench combined for 10 points. But there was one major exception.
Donning a headband, James Harden kept the Sixers afloat. After taking All-Star Weekend off for the first time in a decade, the 33-year-old looked fresh. Harden scored at a high level against an elite defense: 31 points on 10-of-16 shooting, 6 of 9 from beyond the arc and 5 of 7 from the free-throw line.
Harden’s field goals came on some nice variety. Five came on isolations, the types he’ll be forced into when defenses switch his pick-and-roll with Embiid in the postseason. Harden mixed in bully-ball drives with his signature stepback 3. Those are the old reliables. But he even knocked down a couple of catch-and-shoot 3s, a newer addition to the arsenal.
The whole bag of Harden’s tricks was on display. That felt fitting on a night he passed Allen Iverson for 26th on the NBA’s all-time scoring list. If Harden has the full bag, the Sixers’ chances at a playoff run improve. His ability to score against elite defenses is crucial.
“We fought, fought and fought,” Harden said. “We really gave ourselves a chance. These next 20-some games we have are against really good teams. That’s gonna prepare us for the postseason, so I thought it was good for us.”
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Rivers had to work hard for the win as well. Instead of going with his preferred all-bench lineup for stretches to keep the starter’s minutes down, he kept either Harden or Embiid on the floor at all times. In the fourth quarter, Rivers dusted off the Tucker-at-center lineup, and Rivers indicated we will see more of that look in the final third of the season.
Against Memphis’ physical half-court defense, Rivers eventually landed on a set the Sixers had success with.
The play is called “V-Out,” which is a Horns look where the ball goes to Embiid at the left elbow. At the right elbow, Harden sets a screen whether he starts as the point guard or opposite Embiid. The Sixers scored off this set by getting to the Harden-Embiid two-man game.
The best wrinkle occurred when the Sixers substituted Maxey for Tobias Harris in the initial action. With Dillon Brooks unwilling to leave Harden, a solid back screen by Harden freed up Maxey. That led to a wide-open corner 3 for Harris.
“They challenge you to pass, and they challenge you to execute. And I didn’t think we executed worth a darn in the first half,” Rivers said. “The second half every time out, we got something. We ran stuff, we executed, we’re in the right spot, we trusted the pass. And that’s big for us.”
Things got chaotic down the stretch. Harris made a couple of clutch 3s but also passed up an open one and air-balled another. Tucker was seemingly on the ground every other possession. Memphis was gobbling up offensive rebounds. Harris was defending Morant. Harden made an extremely difficult corner 3.
It wasn’t always pretty, but it was entertaining, physical NBA basketball. And the key sequence in the final minute summed up the whole game. After Harris hit a go-ahead 3, Morant’s floater bounced off the rim into no-man’s-land. Harden tracked down the ball, hit the floor and found Embiid on an outlet pass for a fast-break dunk.
This sequence from Grizzlies-Sixers on Thursday night 🤯
Philadelphia ended the game on a 10-1 run to get the W.
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As the Wells Fargo Center exploded, Harden and Tucker exhorted the crowd for more noise. And on a night Embiid could not buy a basket, his easiest look was saved for last. It was created mostly through resilience.
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“I could have been better tonight,” Embiid said. “But I just think it shows you that we have the right players that are tough mentally. We have the right group that knows you just got to stick together and then at some point, it’s going to change.”
(Photo of Joel Embiid: Bill Streicher / USA Today)
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