Philadelphia 76ers' anchor Joel Embiid taking his game to new heights this postseason
By Yaron Weitzman
FOX Sports NBA Writer
While never the source of the Sixers’ recent postseason failures, it's fair to say that Joel Embiid's playoff résumé going into this year's tournament was not stellar.
The best proof of this: Entering this season, Embiid had shot just 43.6% for his career in the playoffs. That’s a drop-off of five percentage points from his regular-season mark.
That's why what the Sixer big man has done so far this postseason — and specifically against the Hawks, and more specifically in the Sixers’ series-evening Game 2 victory on Tuesday night — is so striking.
Not only did the MVP runner-up just put together the best season of his career, but he’s actually upped his performance in the playoffs. And not only has he upped his performance in the playoffs, but he’s actually done so while carrying a heavier load than any other player in the league, and all, incredibly, just one week after being diagnosed with a torn meniscus.
Think of it like this: How many other players can you say are both the focal point of their team’s offensive attacks and the anchor of their defensive schemes? Giannis Antetokounmpo. Maybe Kawhi Leonard. Maybe LeBron James when he turns things up during the postseason. But, as Sixers head coach Doc Rivers said during a press conference on Thursday, "It's not a lot of guys. That list is very short."
Looking for some statistical proof? Embiid is just the ninth player to ever register a usage rate of over 35% in a season while racking up three or more defensive win shares. And that group includes players like James Harden and Russell Westbrook, neither of whom would be described as essential defensive pieces.
This is what stood out most about Embiid’s Game 2 performance: the way he dominated on both ends of the floor, to a level we almost never see. The numbers on offense — 40 points on 25 shots — speak for themselves. Embiid mashed Clint Capela in the paint. He splashed feathery jumpers. He manipulated Hawks’ defenders, sometimes waiting out double teams, sometimes plowing through them, sometimes drawing them in so that he could kick the ball out to an open teammate.
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That performance pushed his playoff average up to 29 points per game. He's doing so while shooting a ridiculous 59.2%. He’s also connected on 42.9% of his triples. He’s always had the offensive skills, but this season, his efficiency has caught up, mostly thanks to him being in the best shape of his career and transforming into a midrange assassin, to go along with being a low post bully, and neither the Washington Wizards in the first round nor the Hawks thus far this series have had any answers.
This is the difference in this version of Embiid. It’s probably the first time in his career that his offensive game has finally caught up — and probably surpassed — his skills on the defensive end. But that doesn’t make those skills less impactful, even if they are more subtle. Sure, he might not block a ton of shots (1.4 per game during the regular season), and he’s not regularly locking down guards like Draymond Green does. What he does do, though, is a little of everything, and all while using his massive 7-foot, 280-pound frame and uncanny instincts to form a one-man wall at the rim.
"He's so versatile," Rivers said. "It's rare with a guy his size (that) you can bring him up in pick and rolls, that you can actually switch on a couple occasions, that you can trap, and you can be in the drop, you know, Joel can do all those things."
This versatility was on full display in Game 2, as the Sixers corralled Trae Young. Much of that was thanks to Rivers’ decision to slide Ben Simmons and Matisse Thybulle onto Young after watching him torch Danny Green two days earlier in Game 1. But Rivers also tweaked his scheme to take better advantage of Embiid’s talents.
In Game 1, Rivers had Embiid dropping deep into the paint on Young pick-and-rolls so that he could guard against the lob to Capela. Which sounded great in theory, but also gifted Young a comfortable runway into the lane. So in Game 2 Rivers had Embiid mix it up, sometimes even coming up closer to the level of the screen with the goal being for him to high help on Young and then recover back to Capela, and it worked, but only because of Embiid’s unique combination of size, speed and smarts.
The Sixers held Young to 21 points on 6-for-16 shooting. He did dish out 11 assists, but the Hawks only scored 104.1 points per 100 possessions, a seven-point dip from their playoff rate entering the game.
"It’s tough because if I come up, they throw the lob. And if I stay back, (Young) goes to that floater," Embiid said after Game 2. "But tonight, we did a better job as a team as far as pursuing whoever was coming off the pick. And then I was also playing the game. You can call that cat-and-mouse: Faking and going back, just trying to keep them guessing."
He does that by taking away as much of his own guesswork as possible.
"He studies more film than anyone I’ve been around," Drew Hanlen, personal trainer to Embiid and dozens of other NBA players, said in a phone interview with FOX Sports.
It starts before a series, when Embiid does a scouting session with the Sixers and then an individual session with Hanlen. Then after each game, he’ll watch the entire thing again by himself, then do a session with the team, then review individual clips with Hanlen.
"He wants to know all the ins-and-outs of what his opponents are doing and force them into uncomfortable situations," Hanlen added. "For me, that’s the biggest thing he does — he tries taking away guys’ strengths and challenging them to do things that they’re not comfortable with."
That’s how the Hawks end up with Young veering side-to-side instead of north-to-south when coming off pick-and-rolls. Or coming down the lane with his left hand, which makes it harder for him to get to his beloved floaters or fire darts out to shooters dotting the 3-point line.
Of course, this being the playoffs, you can be sure the Hawks will come back with their own adjustment. Maybe they swap in a shooter for Capela and try pulling Embiid out of the paint. Maybe Young tries attacking Embiid with more verve. Maybe they come up with something else.
Whatever it is, you can be sure Embiid will still be in the middle of the action, leaving his large imprint all over the floor.
Yaron Weitzman is an NBA writer for FOX Sports and the author of Tanking to the Top: The Philadelphia 76ers and the Most Audacious Process in the History of Professional Sports. Follow him on Twitter @YaronWeitzman.
