Written by Jessica Camerato at CSNPhilly
Get him the ball. He wants it.
Joel Embiid had yet to play in an NBA game when he said during training camp he thought he could be clutch. The proclamation was based on an internal feeling without any stats to back it up.
Embiid started this season with an empty slate on which to build those moments. In his sixth NBA game, he put the Sixers on his back in overtime for their first victory.
“I thought Jo brought us home with some individual sort of brute strength and post play at the end,” Brett Brown said following the Sixers’ 109-105 win over the Pacers on Friday night. “We saw the best of Joel Embiid when it mattered most.”
Embiid struggled in the first three quarters. He had scored nine points (2 for 7 from the field) with three rebounds in 16½ minutes through the third. The fourth was a different story. Embiid turned up his game, scoring 11 points (3 for 8 from the field, 4 for 5 from the line) in just over seven minutes. His three-point shot reclaimed the Sixers’ lead with four minutes left in regulation. Embiid said he has been following top players who raise their games in the fourth quarter.
“Making plays in the clutch is a learning process for me, and you’ve got to trust it,” he said.
The Sixers have a 24-minute restriction on Embiid. He had clocked 23:48 through four quarters and thought he was done for the night when the game went into overtime. Embiid joked he was “kind of yelling at them to let me play and crying a little bit,” telling his coaches he wanted to play when it counted the most.
Brown went to Embiid with 1:57 remaining in overtime. He scored five points, including a perfect 3 for 3 from the line, and grabbed two rebounds during that time. His free throws with seconds left secured the Sixers’ win.
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