Welcome to the NBA Hangover. We jot down NBA stuff mostly from last night that we want to talk about. Check it out.
Joel Embiid had his most dominant game of the season on Thursday night.
(PHOTO CREDIT: Elise Amendola/AP.)
Joel Embiid hasn’t been exactly levels above every big man. He had been still pretty good but we all felt like he was just going through the motions.
Before retired basketball players were yelling about him on national TV, we knew what was up. He went scoreless against Toronto. In the rematch, Philly won but he still only went for 10 points. His scoring was down from 27.5 PPG last season to 22.0 PPG this season before Thursday night. There were times this season where he just didn’t look involved.
You just felt he could do more.
He talked about it leading up to Thursday’s game against Boston. From NBC Philly:
“I can’t pick and choose whenever I want to dominate. It has to be a nightly thing. Then again, I’ve also got to take care of my body, so I’m still trying to find that balance between kind of putting my body at risk during the regular season and when I have the goal to get to the playoffs healthy. Still trying to find that balance and like I said, playing with my teammates, I’m still trying to learn. It’s been a big adjustment for me this year. I’m still trying to get a balance and get a feel for everything, and I’m sure by the end of the regular season we are going to be ready for the playoffs.”
He even admitted to picking his spots. A couple of nights ago, his “attempts to be mature” was affecting his play. He felt he wasn’t having as much fun:
“I haven’t done it enough all season,” Embiid said. “I have not been having fun like usual. It goes back to with me being mature. And one of the biggest parts of my game is just having fun and by having fun is talking trash, but that part, that’s kind of been cut. I just need to be myself and I guess just do whatever I want. Because when I’m having fun, I dominate. But this year, I don’t know, I can probably count on one hand how many times I’ve done it. Last year was basically a reaction that I love it. They get me going. They understand me, I do understand them. So, I need to start doing it again because that’s how I’m gonna dominate.”
Embiid had been mostly chill ever since he got suspended after he had a tussle with longtime rival Karl-Anthony Towns. That spilled over social media before he said he was done talking trash.
But maybe Shaquille O’Neal and Charles Barkley saying something got to him. Because against Boston, Embiid finally had a dominant game. He went for 38-13-6. He punctuated it with a clutch defensive play that led to the Celtics’ first home loss of the season.
After that, Embiid faced the music with Shaq and Chuck. They said he needed to be more like that and Embiid gave a very measured and mature response to it. That game against Boston is indeed the Embiid we should be seeing for most of the season. If he wants to be talked about in the level of James Harden, Giannis Antetokounmpo, LeBron James, or even Luka Doncic, he needs to impose his will more often. And we know he’s capable of this on a nightly basis. He’s got a deep repertoire. He’s a defensive beast. And he’s just so physically dominating. He just has to put it all together consistently and remind himself that he’s not just “pretty good” but he’s one of the best in the game toda.
Maybe this is a turning point for Embiid’s season.
Bullet Passes
The NBA global reach continues:
This is what Adam Silver wanted, I’m sure. Plus it’s a more realistic way of expanding the developmental league because Mexico is connected South to the United States. I think if they want to expand even more, they should try to create more feeder leagues in other parts of the world. Like an NBA London G-League or an NBA China G-League (although the latter might be really tough at the moment).
I can’t believe we got used to saying G-League.
Speaking of Mexico, the NBA had a game there on Thursday where the Mavericks and Pistons faced off. Luka is now doing 41-point triple-doubles in other parts of the world.
Why did they make this a Pistons home game? It made more sense for a Texas team to be the home team. It sucks that Detroit got a home game taken away from them.
There had been rumors about how the Cavalier players have not been fans of new coach John Beilein. Longest-tenured Cav Tristan Thompson had defended him in the media a few days ago.
And then this happened on Thursday night:
Looks like Tristan Thompson and John Beilein are getting along great pic.twitter.com/fNoPK6ghaj
— Chase Shannon (@chase_shannon) December 13, 2019
That’s just great. A mutiny might be coming soon in Cleveland.
(Somehow, Cleveland won and snapped their 8-game skid.)
So this happened again:
And he had just come off a 10-game suspension! The Heat HAVE to move on from Dion, right?
Lastly, speedy recovery to ex-commissioner David Stern. He suffered a brain hemorrhage and had emergency surgery on Thursday.
Watch This Play
Well, Kristaps Porzingis (yeah, yeah, I know) knocked the avocados out of Andre Drummond.
OH. MY. GOD.
Porzingis crosses up Blake and dunks it right on Drummond pic.twitter.com/qNNihzewtY
— Nick Angstadt (@NickVanExit) December 13, 2019
If it happened in a different country, did it count?
Rey-Rey is on Twitter at @TheNoLookPass.
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