Joel Embiid admitted it’s hard to ‘not look at yourself and be down’ during his shooting slump
And when Embiid said “nothing is going in,” he meant it literally on Friday. His 0-for-9 performance from the field marked just the second game of his career without a field goal.
CLEVELAND — After multiple games this season, Joel Embiid has cracked a joke about never taking a three-pointer again.
In those jokes came Embiid’s typical smile, which let everyone know he would keep firing away. But after the Sixers’ 119-95 loss to the Cavaliers, Embiid sounded as if his confidence was at least a little bit shaken after going 3-for-28 from three-point range to open the season. That includes six straight games played for him without a make.
“I believe in myself, but when you’re in these moments and nothing is going in, whether it’s threes, midrange, everything, layups, it’s hard to just not look at yourself and be down,” Embiid said. “But you got to keep going and stay up and keep working.”
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And when Embiid said “nothing is going in,” he meant it literally on Friday. His 0-for-9 performance from the field, 0-for-2 from three-point range, marked just the second game of his career that ended without him scoring a field goal (the other was Nov. 25, 2019).
After the game, Embiid reflected that some of his issues shooting (38% overall from the field) might be “mechanical,” especially when it came to his three-point shooting.
“It’s tough. I mean, even some of the ones that I take, I mean, I’m just taking them because my teammates [say] I just got to shoot it,” said Embiid, a 33.5% three-point shooter for his career. “But when it doesn’t feel right and it’s not going in, I feel like it’s mechanical. I just got to work on some things. The way I jump, the way I land when I take a jumper. We’re going to look at the film and just keep working at it.”
Embiid went on to explain further that the injuries of the last few years, coupled with the team’s plan for managing his workload outside of games, might be contributing to his slow start shooting. That perhaps he hasn’t found a rhythm with his mechanics the way he might have in other years (Embiid has missed two games for load management and was on a minutes restriction Monday for plantar fasciitis in his right foot).
“Probably I used to be able to be in the gym every single day and just get the reps in and just working on it,” Embiid said. “And that’s why it was so automatic and now, we’ve got to find a way to kind of mix it up because you got to manage a load so you don’t get as much reps as possible. But it’s an adjustment. You just got to keep working on it and hope it gets better.”
Embiid lamented that he felt like a lot of actions the Sixers ran on Friday ended up in jump shots, and that he and the team have to find ways of getting easier looks. The Sixers took just 16 shots at the rim compared to 38 for the Cavaliers. Tyrese Maxey said he was going to look for ways to get Embiid some cleaner looks closer to the basket.
“I’m just gonna be the guy that pours confidence into him, try to get him some easy shots,” Maxey said. “... We’ll figure out a way to get him some layups or something like that to get him going. But I think he’ll be OK. Once he finds his touch, he’ll be good.”
Their offense became too “crowded”, Embiid said, too isolation heavy on Friday. That has been a problem at times in their otherwise strong 8-2 start to the season. After seeing some progress on that front over the first 10 games, the Sixers took a step back, and it affected their offense overall, not just Embiid.
“Not enough next action, quickly into next action basketball,” coach Nick Nurse said. “It was kind of one action and stand tonight.”
Added Embiid: “I think a lot of it just ends in an iso [isolation possession] and we’re just standing and watching. But we also have those moments where the ball is just moving and tonight was just one of those nights.”
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But a night that was unlike all but one in Embiid’s career statistically.
As Maxey said after the game about the team’s record, “I mean, we’re 8-2. I don’t want to dwell on it too bad.”
The upside of their record is it has afforded them some room to figure things out, whether that’s the offensive rhythm, or for Embiid to figure out his shot, with the two being interconnected.
“There’s just those times where you’re going through it,” Embiid said. “Just got to keep working, after practice, after shootaround and just keep doing the work.”
