Despite making a 22-point comeback, Joel Embiid proved too much for the LA Clippers on the way to a 122-113 loss.
Joel Embiid proved his dominance last night in route to a 122-113 victory over the LA Clippers. Although the Clippers did make a 22-point comeback, Embiid and the Sixers proved to be just too much to handle last night.
Embiid Shines
What we feared became a reality. None of the Clippers centers were a match defensively for Joel Embiid who filled the stat sheet with 41 points, 13 rebounds and 4 blocks.
Marcin Gortat was too slow to take Embiid. Montrezl Harrell was too small and quickly got into foul trouble. Boban Marjanovic did show some signs of life during the comeback, but eventually fell victim to Embiid as well.
2 for 1 special on @JoelEmbiid posters. https://t.co/OOQMbyrKk6
— Philadelphia 76ers (@sixers) November 2, 2018
As we tweeted during the game, not many teams are really going to be able to guard both Embiid and Simmons, but they were particularly bad match-ups for the Clippers.
Guard Play
Yikes. Last night was not Patrick Beverley‘s night. He fouled out, forced unnecessary shots (going 1-7 from the field) and didn’t really do a whole lot to help the team. The same rang true for Avery Bradley who was 1-6 from the field.
In fact, if we ignore Lou Williams who had a team-high 26 points, the other four guards that played scored a grand total of 13 points on an abysmal 5-23 shooting. For a team that was labeled as guard heavy to start the season, this is not the type of production that was expected.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, despite a couple of highlight plays, has had a slight regression over the past couple of games. He was a team-low minus 18 tonight and had moments where he looked like a deer in the headlights. The worst part came when he was blocked (more like a volleyball spike) by Joel Embiid on back-to-back possessions. SGA will have ups and down this year as every rookie does, so it’s not time to overreact.
“Clamp” City
The team dubbed Clamp City has not lived up to their moniker in the past two losses. They gave up 128 points in Oklahoma City and 133 in Philadelphia last night. Star players have also gone off, with Wesbrook and George scoring 32 apiece and Embiid dropping his 41.
This team, despite some scoring from Lou, Tobias Harris and Danilo Gallinari, will need to focus on their defensive efforts to win games. The rule changes have hurt both Beverley and Bradley and both guards will have to adjust in order to defend successfully.
There are times that the defense looks lost and gets out of rotation too. While it’s still early in the season and this whole group has not been together for long, steps need to be made in the right direction.
Tonight’s match-up against the Orlando Magic could be a bright spot for them