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PHILADELPHIA — Joel Embiid is probably not 100% wholesome, however he was wholesome sufficient to attain 50 factors on Thursday, main the Philadelphia 76ers to a 125-114 victory in Recreation 3 of their first-round sequence with the New York Knicks.
Three nights after struggling a heartbreaking defeat at a raucous Madison Sq. Backyard, the Sixers didn’t permit the Knicks to make this one too fascinating, taking management with an incredible 43-27 third quarter and by no means trailing by lower than seven within the fourth.
Listed below are some numbers, notes and movie as Philly received its first win of the sequence:
1. Embiid survives foul hassle and flagrant evaluation
This might have been a special recreation if …
1. Embiid picked up one other foul within the first half.
He dedicated his second foul with 4:34 left within the first quarter however remained within the recreation for one more minute and a half. Then he picked up his third with 6:27 left within the second quarter and stayed within the recreation once more, enjoying the whole second interval.
He didn’t commit one other foul all evening, although he drew 14 of them in his 41 minutes.
Being down 2-0 was a determined scenario for the Sixers, a lot in order that Nick Nurse stored his star on the ground via foul hassle that will often have him on the bench. The gamble paid off.
2. He was known as for a Flagrant 2 as an alternative of a Flagrant 1.
Again to that second foul. Embiid met OG Anunoby within the paint and fell to the bottom. Anunoby then shoveled the ball to Mitchell Robinson beneath the basket and, as Robinson jumped to dunk the ball, Embiid grabbed and pulled on his proper leg …
It was not a basketball play, however it was a harmful one, and Embiid was lucky he received a flagrant 1 as an alternative of a flagrant 2, which might have had him ejected within the first quarter.
After the sport, crew chief Zach Zarba mentioned that the officers had been “unanimous that this didn’t rise to the extent of extreme contact, pointless and extreme, which might have been a flagrant 2 ejection.”
2. The bounce pictures had been falling, the Knicks had been fouling
In all three video games of this sequence, Embiid has taken extra pictures from outdoors the paint than within the paint. That’s typically not pattern, and it definitely wasn’t in Recreation 1, when he was 3-for-13 from the surface.
However he shot higher in Recreation 2 and was 10-for-13 (5-for-6 from mid-range, 5-for-7 from 3-point vary) outdoors the paint in Recreation 3.
Joel Embiid capturing
Paint | Outdoors paint | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
FGM | FGA | FG% | FGM | FGA | FG% | |
Recreation 1 | 5 | 9 | 55.6% | 3 | 13 | 23.1% |
Recreation 2 | 4 | 11 | 36.4% | 8 | 17 | 47.1% |
Recreation 3 | 3 | 6 | 50.0% | 10 | 13 | 76.9% |
TOTAL | 12 | 26 | 46.2% | 21 | 43 | 48.8% |
Doesn’t embody a shot from the backcourt in Recreation 2
Embiid did submit up on the Sixers’ first three possessions of the sport and once more on 4 straight possessions late within the second quarter. The Sixers scored 12 factors on these seven possessions.
He solely posted up as soon as within the second half, and that play resulted in a turnover. However the submit touches weren’t wanted, as a result of Embiid was 7-for-8 from outdoors the paint after halftime, with 4 of his 5 3-pointers being tightly contested.
One was too tightly contested, with Isaiah Hartenstein placing Embiid on the line for 3 of his 21 free throws.
There have been eight situations in NBA historical past the place a participant averaged no less than 10 made free throws in 35 video games or extra. Embiid’s final two seasons are two of these eight situations, with no different participant having averaged greater than 10 made free throws in multiple season.
Whether or not on the perimeter, dealing with up within the submit or driving to the basket, the large man is aware of how to attract a foul. He drew 14 on Thursday and made 19 of his 21 makes an attempt from the road.
3. Sixers’ offense explodes in third quarter
When the Knicks scored on the primary possession of the second half, they’d a five-point lead. They usually scored effectively (27 factors on 22 possessions) within the third quarter. However the Sixers had been on one other stage.
Philadelphia’s 43 factors on 21 possessions (2.05 per) had been the second best quarter for any group in any recreation this season (common season, Play-In or playoffs), topped solely by an Indiana Pacers third quarter (50 on 24) in opposition to Charlotte in early November.
Embiid scored 18 of his 50 within the third, however the different Sixers had been on board, with Tyrese Maxey enjoying the whole interval and scoring 10 of his 25.
The Sixers repeatedly had Kyle Lowry and Embiid set staggered screens for Maxey coming from the left aspect of the ground. When Maxey used each and drew two to the ball, the motion received Embiid his most wide-open 3 of the evening.
And when Jalen Brunson rotated as much as Embiid, Maxey discovered Lowry huge open within the left nook …
The Sixers ranked 14th offensively this season, however they’ve now scored 120.8 factors per 100 possessions, a price which might have ranked second, within the 40 video games through which Maxey and Embiid have each been obtainable.
4. Payne returns, makes an impression
Cameron Payne has had an fascinating season. After buying and selling Chris Paul for Bradley Beal, the Phoenix Suns weirdly despatched Payne (their solely remaining level guard) to San Antonio, a deal they may now remorse. Payne was waived by the Spurs and signed by the Milwaukee Bucks, solely to be concerned within the Patrick Beverley commerce involving Philadelphia and Milwaukee on the deadline.
With the Sixers signing Kyle Lowry a couple of days later, Payne’s position was seemingly decreased, although he remained within the rotation with De’Anthony Melton unavailable for many of the final three months.
Although Melton wasn’t obtainable for Video games 1 and a pair of, Payne performed simply two and a half minutes in New York. Then Melton was again in uniform for Recreation 3.
However it was Payne who was again within the rotation on Thursday. He checked in initially of the second quarter and made a direct impression. On the Sixers’ first possession of the interval, who got here off an Embiid display screen, drew Bojan Bogdanovic off the strong-side nook, and fed Nicolas Batum for a nook 3. And on the subsequent two possessions, Payne drained two audacious 3-point makes an attempt of his personal.
The primary was in transition, after a made bucket on the opposite finish of the ground. And 25 seconds later, Josh Hart hesitated to shut out any Payne let it fly …
Payne completed with 11 factors, three assists and two blocks in lower than 16 minutes of motion, because the Sixers performed two of their three level guards collectively for about 39 of the 48 minutes in Recreation 3.
5. Robinson goes down; Achiuwa known as into obligation
Mitchell Robinson had a giant Recreation 1 (eight factors, 12 rebounds, plus-20 in 30:21), simply his eleventh recreation again from an absence of greater than three months. And he had seven boards in lower than 12 minutes in Recreation 3.
However Robinson, nonetheless coping with points together with his left ankle, couldn’t play within the second half. Hartenstein, Embiid’s main defender, was in foul hassle all evening. So Valuable Achiuwa, acquired with Anunoby from Toronto in December, was known as into obligation.
Like the opposite two bigs, Achiuwa couldn’t keep away from the fouls, committing three in slightly greater than 10 minutes of motion. However he did register a plus-6 and for the third straight recreation, the Knicks gained the minutes with Embiid off the ground. (In 28 complete minutes with Embiid off the ground on this sequence, the rating has been Knicks 69, Sixers 37).
If Robinson is unable to go and the 6-foot-8 Achiuwa is required to protect Embiid extra in Recreation 4 on Sunday (1 p.m. ET, ABC), we may even see extra aggressive double-teams from the Knicks.
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John Schuhmann is a senior stats analyst for NBA.com. You may e-mail him right here, discover his archive right here and comply with him on X.
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