‘Vintage’ Joel Embiid takes big step in the right direction with triple-double

Joel Embiid overpowered Alperen Şengün with a spin inside, sending the Houston Rockets’ big man to the floor before easily laying the ball into the rim.

The play drew the ire of Rockets coach Ime Udoka, who got whistled for a technical foul. It was also another sign of how much Embiid’s health — and production — continues to progress.

Two years ago to the day, Embiid scored a career-high 70 points in a victory over the San Antonio Spurs. It was the masterpiece of a historic stretch, when the then-reigning NBA Most Valuable Player was scoring more than a point a minute. A few days later, however, the Golden State Warriors’ Jonathan Kuminga inadvertently fell on Embiid’s knee, and years of struggles to stay healthy and available ensued.

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Embiid has not returned to his peak level. Perhaps he never will. Yet it was poetic that his best performance since those surgeries — 32 points, 15 rebounds, and 10 assists in the 76ers’ thrilling overtime victory Thursday night at Xfinity Mobile Arena — arrived on the same date.

“Maybe I should have a baby on Jan. 22,” Embiid quipped from his locker after the game. “Seems to be a good day. Me and my wife, when I get home, we’re probably going to talk about [it]. Start making those calculations, and make sure that we’re trying to have a baby on Jan. 22.”

That answer, complete with the playful bravado, is further evidence that Embiid is getting back to himself, after acknowledging feeling depressed and separated from teammates while navigating his health struggles. He also has allowed himself to sincerely reflect at points this season, saying in Orlando earlier this month that “this is a moment where I’m like, ‘Wow.’ A lot of people, I think, never thought this would happen again.”

Sixers teammates and staff members have closely watched this recovery unfold. For Paul George, Embiid’s first dunk on Jan. 3 at Madison Square Garden was a key benchmark. For coach Nick Nurse, it has been the gradual improvements in rim protection, rebounding, drives to the basket, and post-up opportunities. Nurse added he is still “a ways away” from schematically moving Embiid to different spots around the court “as much as we want to,” which could unlock even more of his offensive prowess.

And though Embiid has appeared in 11 out of the past 13 games — during which he has averaged 27.8 points on 51.7% shooting, along with 8.3 rebounds, and 4.3 assists — he said he still is “not allowed to play back-to-backs — yet.”

Tuesday, though, was another significant step, in a down-to-the-wire victory against a quality opponent. His 15 rebounds were his highest total since — Surprise! — that 70-point outburst. His 10 assists were a season-high, and a product of Embiid getting rid of the ball earlier when the extra defender arrives, Nurse said. Defensively, Embiid helped limit Şengün, an All-Star reserve contender in the Western Conference, to 5-of-14 from the floor and three points after halftime.

As a scorer, Embiid drew fouls on a rip-through move and while assertively turning toward the basket. He hit a jumper over two defenders at the end of the second quarter. He hunted switches so he could be guarded by a smaller defender, even as the Rockets “were moving pieces like crazy,” Nurse said, while unleashing a variety of different schemes.

And when the Sixers needed buckets in the fourth, Embiid kept his team afloat before its final surge.

An inside conversion to cut Houston’s lead to four points. A three-pointer to get them within 105-99. A driving finish out of a timeout to make the score 107-101. And six assists over the fourth quarter and overtime, including dishes to Tyrese Maxey (36 points) for a game-tying pull-up late in regulation and then for the game-sealing dunk in the final seconds of the extra frame.

By the time Embiid’s night was over, he had played nearly 47 minutes.

“He walked into the locker room after the game,” said Maxey, who leads the NBA in minutes played, “and said, ‘There’s no reason I should ever play more minutes than Tyrese.’ I said, ‘That’s great. You should do that more often.’ …

“He’s just getting back to himself, slowly but surely. And he’s doing it in a different way, kind of. But he’s just really locked in and really bought into this team.”

As Embiid held court in front of his locker, teammate Trendon Watford walked by and yelled “All-Star Joel! All-Star Process!” Maxey had just done his own politicking during his news conference, saying “Process!” and tapping the microphone when asked to choose a teammate to join him at the festivities in Los Angeles next month. That all echoed Embiid’s own personal campaigning, saying in Orlando that he believes he is worthy of a spot and “you guys [the media] should start putting the word out that Joel Embiid is back.”

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A few minutes later, George said he could feel Embiid’s “competitive juices” while matching up against Sengun.

“He won’t say it,” George said. “But me in that position, when I was in his spot and there was guys under me that was coming up, I took it personal to kind of still be a force out there.”

Oh, but Embiid did say it.

After former Sixers teammate Furkan Korkmaz in September called Şengün the best center he has shared the floor with, as part of the Turkish national team, Embiid added a new photo to his Instagram grid late Thursday.

Şengün hunched over, slowly regaining his feet after that wicked spin sent him to the floor. Embiid standing over him, side-eyed and staring.

And a one-word caption: “Furk……”

“He dominated,” George added. “Big fella took it on him to really take over. I thought he was the vintage Joel tonight.”