{"id":610967,"date":"2017-01-19T07:37:23","date_gmt":"2017-01-19T12:37:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/?p=610967"},"modified":"2017-01-19T07:37:23","modified_gmt":"2017-01-19T12:37:23","slug":"joel-embiid-shines-again-in-another-sixers-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/joel-embiid-shines-again-in-another-sixers-win\/","title":{"rendered":"Joel Embiid Shines Again in Another Sixers Win"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Sean Kennedy (<\/span>@PhillyFastBreak<\/span><\/a>)<\/span><\/p>\n

Philadelphia 94, Toronto 89 \u2013\u00a0<\/span>Box Score<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

All-Star voting has ended and the Philadelphia 76ers and their fans are waiting to find out whether Joel Embiid will be a starter or reserve down in New Orleans. The way Embiid played Wednesday night, though, All-Star starter might be setting the bar too low.<\/span><\/p>\n

Facing a Raptors team that had the second-best offense in the league and had defeated Philadelphia 14 straight times, the Sixers held Toronto\u00a0to just 89 points and the equivalent of just over a 92 offensive rating. The biggest reason, both literally and metaphorically, was Embiid, who finished the game with a +20 plus\/minus in a game his team won by 5.<\/span><\/p>\n

Embiid simply does so much on the defensive end of the floor. It\u2019s incredible to watch him at over 7 feet tall switch onto Kyle Lowry (24 points) and DeMar DeRozan (25 points, 14 in the 4th quarter) and do more than a credible job defending them. Embiid consistently stifles the pick-and-roll and erases his teammates\u2019 mistakes by providing an intimidating presence on the back line.<\/span><\/p>\n

The closing sequence of the game perfectly demonstrated that, as right after Robert Covington blocked a Kyle Lowry three-point attempt, Lowry recovered and managed the beat RoCo on the sceond try, but Embiid was there to swallow the ball into his orbit. The fact that he basically tipped it to himself and drew a 6th foul on Lowry in the process was icing on the cake.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Timeout with 3.7 left. We're up, 94-89.<\/p>\n

Here's the big JoJo block. https:\/\/t.co\/dCuSQHfxPX<\/a><\/p>\n

— Philadelphia 76ers (@sixers) January 19, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n