December 10, 2022
It may speak to Joel Embiid's greatness that a 38-point, 12-rebound, five-assist effort quantifies as a normal-ish day at the office for Philadelphia's leading man. Maybe — okay, certainly — a collapse from the Sixers late in Friday's win vs. the Lakers dented enthusiasm over what he had just done against one of the other great bigs in the NBA. When individual dominance becomes routine, the margin and method of victory is the next place people seek to measure you.
Long before the Sixers choked away a nine-point lead with 35 seconds left in the fourth quarter, Embiid had played a first period for the books, scoring 20 of those aforementioned 38 while basically playing Anthony Davis off of the floor by physically overwhelming him. Davis, who has been coerced into playing center as a fuller-time proposition by new coach Darvin Ham, struggled to cope with Embiid's physicality early before taking a seat on the bench with foul trouble. This has always been a matchup Embiid has gotten up for, but there was a bit more fire even compared to previous meetings, perhaps because Embiid knew he'd actually get to attack Davis straight up.
If that was what drove him early and often in this game, though, it wasn't where Embiid's mind was after the game. When he eventually spoke to reporters late on Friday evening, the big man seemed to acknowledge a growing narrative about his performances as the leader of his team, ostensibly trying to do what others expect out of him.
"Trying to send a message to my teammates. I often hear a lot about, I'm asked to be the best offensive player, the best defensive player, playmaking, leadership, there's a lot to deal with. But you know, I like the challenge. But I often hear a lot about, if I'm not more than Joel Embiid, the rest of my teammates follow. I've heard that quite a bit, so I just wanted to come out and really send a message to them and show them that well, here's me playing hard and obviously scoring the ball. Everybody also got to follow, and they did, so just got to do it every night."
(Sidebar: Joel Embiid, possible reader of PhillyVoice? I might as well put the "We're all trying to find the guy who did this" meme from I Think You Should Leave here.)
Though Embiid has acknowledged the higher bar amongst he has to clear in the past, I don't recall him going so far as to say that he has ever turned it up for a moment, a game, or even a specific play simply because he was trying to get through to his teammates. And there are two readings you could make of the comment on Friday:
It may be one or the other and could certainly be a combination of both. Underneath the goofy persona, his teammates most often describe him as a relatively quiet guy, buried in whatever random basketball game he can catch once he's done playing. But he is, if his past meme usage and trash talk and banter are any indications, often much more aware of what is said about him (good or bad) than I think he would admit in public. He knows what's written, what's said on a podcast, what fans and detractors desire from him, and he drops enough hints in his answers to make that clear.
The important thing for the Sixers, of course, is the performance itself, whether the reasoning is a proxy battle with naysayers or an earnest push to galvanize this team.
Local discontent with the team has overshadowed what looks at the moment like another leap forward from Embiid, an idea that seems impossible when you consider where he was as a player. Only 17 games have been played, but his season-long line is the stuff of dreams — 32.2 points, 9.7 rebounds, and career highs in both assists per game (4.9) and efficiency. And it's the last part that's arguably most impressive, with Embiid shooting 52.6 percent from the field despite struggling from three and living on a steady diet of shots from midrange and in.
Two seasons after he lit the league ablaze with a midrange season for the ages, Embiid is outpacing those numbers to open the year. From 15-24 feet, Embiid has hit a preposterous 51.4 percent of his shots. It is a number that puts him in territory with the likes of Dirk Nowitzki or Michael Jordan*, and it surpasses the greatest midrange shooting seasons (volume differences noted) of Kobe Bryant, DeMar DeRozan, and a number of other men who made a living in that area. You could even put an asterisk next to Jordan, as shooting tracking data through the NBA only goes back to around 1997. Suffice it to say I think His Airness did okay from this area of the floor, but Embiid could very well be outpacing him.
In any case, Embiid's dominance from that area of the floor has made it just about impossible to guard him. The Sixers have increasingly run the offense through Embiid at the elbows under Doc Rivers, finding it easier for him to both score and playmake.
"I've gone away from really posting up a lot because teams double and it's harder to double at the nail and the elbow," Embiid said Friday. "It has been working so well for me. So I just try to work on every shot possible, because you're never going to know what can come of it. The goal of it is to make sure I'm ready for anything in the playoffs."
Embiid was so dominant in the early stages of the game that the Lakers essentially rearranged their team in order to stop the ball from getting to his hands. At points throughout the game, the Lakers parked two smaller defenders on Embiid off-ball. You could look at the below possession as a worrying sign of James Harden's threat to a defense, but you could also take solace in the fact that Philly got an easy layup simply because Embiid was standing on the floor.
The low moments, like Philadelphia's late game collapse and Embiid's turnover-plagued overtime in Houston, tend to stick in the brain for a while. But on the whole, you see more of Embiid using the pass as a weapon with each passing year. It's the mere threat of the pass, too, with a pass fake to clear a double often buying him enough space to make his move. Rather than trying to dribble himself out of every bit of pressure, Embiid can use a quick pass fake to push the second defender back enough to clear airspace for a midrange jumper.
There are still problems with turnovers, mind you, the big man averaging a career-high in giveaways (4.3 a night) so far this season. It's a problem that sticks in his mind in spite of the big numbers elsewhere.
"I'm not perfect, I still make a lot of mistakes, but that comes with the burden of trying to make things happen," Embiid said Friday. "I haven't been able to take care of the ball the way I want to, I got to do a better job with that. I still got a long way to go as a player and a teammate."
And this is before we get to defense, which truth be told may be the most important thing Embiid brings to the table for a potential playoff run. The Sixers have gone away from switching 1-5 after asking Embiid to switch most ball screens to start the season, climbing back toward the top of the league in defense by allowing him to sit back and protect the rim more. They changed that strategy for the Lakers game, with Embiid stepping out on LeBron James whenever they used Davis to screen for James' man.
The strategy ultimately paid off — James didn't have much interest in trying to attack Embiid off of the dribble, settling for tough threes and off-balance jumpers most of the time. With Embiid as his primary defender, James shot just 1-for-6 from the field, and it felt like a fair reflection of the shot quality James had with Embiid guarding him.
Just 25 games into a disappointing team campaign, Embiid is nonetheless putting together another bonkers season. If they ever figure out how to make the group work, it will be because the big man bought them enough time to get their act together.
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