PHILADELPHIA – Injuries do not get to the best of players, as they are able to put them at the back of their minds and continue doing what they do best in their sport.
That was what happened to Joel Embiid on Dec 22, as he shook off an ankle injury to score 31 points and grab 10 rebounds, propelling the Philadelphia 76ers to a 121-111 home victory over the Toronto Raptors with his 13th straight game with at least 30 points and 10 boards.
The Cameroonian centre, the reigning National Basketball Association (NBA) Most Valuable Player, had plenty of support with Tyrese Maxey and Tobias Harris scoring 33 points apiece for the Sixers.
Embiid had an unfortunate first quarter, scoring just two points in the period after twisting his ankle in an awkward landing under the basket. But after a brief trip to the locker room, he finished the first half with 11 points, three rebounds, six assists and five turnovers.
“I saw that I wasn’t being aggressive,” he said, preferring to talk about his game rather than his ankle.
“But then I let the game come to me. I didn’t force shots and in the third quarter I was able to get a few shots to go.”
When asked about his injury, he simply added: “I don’t know. I’ll get it checked out. We’ll see.”
Harris kept the Sixers afloat, scoring 24 first-half points to help them take a 61-58 lead at the break after the Raptors had led by as many as 15.
Embiid came alive in the third period, scoring 17 straight Sixers points in a run that saw him sprint for a transition basket off a feed from Maxey and drill a three-pointer that put the Sixers up 90-77.
Despite the occasional grimace of discomfort, he extended the NBA’s longest stretch of 30-point, 10-rebound games since Kareem Abdul-Jabbar had 16 straight in 1971-72.
The Raptors, led by Pascal Siakam’s 31 points, got the deficit down to three late in the third quarter before the Sixers pulled away again.
Maxey added 10 assists and Harris added eight rebounds and seven assists to his season-high in points as Philadelphia won for the eighth time in their last nine games.
“Tobias is a really good player, does a lot of good things,” Sixers coach Nick Nurse said. “Sometimes shots find you, sometimes they don’t and tonight the ball found him a little more and he took advantage of it.”
Nurse also said was not surprised the Sixers came out a little flat after beating Western Conference leaders Minnesota behind a 51-point performance from Embiid.
“It wasn’t just (Embiid), it was everybody,” he said.
“Then Joel got going… he started punching through, started making some jumpers. He just finally got in his rhythm and got the shooting going.”
The coach added that the team would keep an eye on Embiid’s ankle with a Christmas Day game at Miami coming up to start a four-game road trip.
“I’m sure it’ll be sore tomorrow,” he said.
“We’ll have to monitor it over the next couple days before we get on the plane (to Miami).”
Over in Miami, Tyler Herro scored a team-high 30 points and made a season-high seven three-pointers to help the Heat to a 122-113 win over the visiting Atlanta Hawks.
Duncan Robinson scored 21 of his season-high 27 points in the fourth quarter for Miami, who won their third game in four tries. His impressive display in the final period tied the most points he ever scored in a quarter; he also had 21 in the second quarter of a Heat win over Cleveland on Nov 20, 2019.
“It shows you how much he’s improved all across the board,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said.
Trae Young made seven treys and had 30 points and 13 assists for the Hawks, who saw their modest two-game winning streak come to an end. AFP, REUTERS
