This was me sometime last night:
Regardless of how it ended after James Harden fouled in Game 3 last night, 104-101 Sixers win in overtime, Joel Embiid was bad. Oh I should mention what the Kerry Wood Memorial Zoo is. It’s to this fictional place that Kerry mentally drifts to almost every start. He would have had about 7 Ks through four innings while giving up a hit and then in the 5th he just wouldn’t have been able to find the plate and go four guys or give up a grand slam or anything. And you couldn’t imagine how it could turn so sharply so quickly.
That was Embiid in the last few minutes. While I acknowledge what makes Embiid special is that he can do just about anything — beat guys off the dribble, run the offense, carry the ball up the floor, hit outside jumpers — that doesn’t mean the Sixers needed him to Replicating Harden’s game after Harden had completed the proceedings. Nobody needs to see their 7-foot center try to step back 28-foot fadeaways just because they think they can.
It felt worse than it was. After Harden fouled, Embiid missed said 28-foot and a 12-foot fadeaway while elbowing in overtime to put the Sixers ahead with two minutes left. But he turned us all into our fathers and yelled, “On the blocks!”
And that’s why none of this matters:
Is that a good shot? I still hardly say maybe. Should you be able to take it off in 0.9 seconds? Also hardly maybe. But it’s also what Embiid can do that makes him who he is. And since Harden may be bordering on “too much tub” to keep playing his usual game, I guess someone has to.
Exercise doesn’t make a damn sense, man.
