Joel Embiid notches double-double in return as Sixers beat Pacers, 106-89
His 33 points and 12 rebounds keyed the Sixers to a crucial win against the Pacers.
Joel Embiid showed why the 76ers are much better when he plays.
The two-time All-Star finished with 33 points and 12 rebounds in Sunday afternoon’s 106-89 victory over the Indiana Pacers. This marked his first game back after missing the last eight with tendinitis in his left knee. The big man thrived at the foul line, making 11 of 15 shots to go with two steals in 27 minutes, 59 seconds of action.
“He’s a difference maker in all ways, shapes and forms,” coach Brett Brown said.
Embiid’s return came at a perfect time for the Sixers (42-25), who had lost two straight and three of their last four games without him.
By virtue of going 3-1 in the season series against the Pacers (42-25), the win elevated the Sixers to third place in the Eastern Conference. Indiana dropped to fourth, and Philly holds the tiebreaker assuming both teams finish the season with identical records.
If there was a negative, it’s that Jimmy Butler didn’t finish the game due to a foot problem. The Sixers swingman exited the game with 4:04 remaining. That came 16 seconds after he missed a step-back jumper.
Brown said he didn’t insert Butler back into the game because Butler took his sneaker off and held his foot.
“It was something going on with his foot,” Brown said. “I don’t know what it was. I will learn more about it."
Butler said his foot was fine after the game. The Sixers will have an update on Monday.
But Embiid’s return was a key subplot to a game that was important for seeding purposes.
His return to the court came one day after playing 5-on-5 basketball for 75 minutes with staff members at the team’s practice facility in Camden.
In his first action since the Feb. 17 All-Star game, Embiid played in four- to five-minute clumps as a way to get back in shape. Initially, the Sixers weren’t cohesive while he was on the floor. A lot of that had to do with Embiid trying to do a lot offensively during those short playing-time stretches. That left his teammates standing around and watching him. The only problem is that the big man was rusty and over-aggressive at times.
Yet, he had 9 points on 4-for-10 shooting to go with 6 rebounds, two turnovers and three fouls -- including a technical – in 13:52 of action in the first half.
His technical foul came while arguing a phantom foul call he received while guarding Domantas Sabonis with 1:19 left in the first quarter.
But Embiid settled down and was more himself after intermission. He had 24 points on 7-for-11 shooting in the second half. He was much better than the Pacers, who made just 9 of 38 after intermission, including going 1 of 8 on three-pointers.
Indiana only scored 11 points in the third quarter and 30 points total in the second half.
Embiid’s hot shooting and the Pacers’ poor shooting helped the Sixers battle back from an 11-point third-quarter deficit. The Sixers knotted the score at 70 on Embiid’s foul shot with 16 seconds left in the quarter. Then James Ennis quickly added a pair of free throws to put the Sixers up two.
They extended their lead to 18 points (103-85) after Mike Scott’s jumper with 1:26 remaining.
“You learned quickly that you missed Joel,” Brown said of the eight games without the 7-foot-2, listed 275-pounder. “Let’s start with that. We’re an entirely different team. The priorities defensively and offensively change. I feel it defensively more than anything, more than offense.”
Embiid said Friday’s 107-91 road loss to the Houston Rockets, among the past couple games, led to his returning on Sunday. The Sixers won three of their first four games without him before losing three of the final four. That included a bad road loss to the 19-49 Chicago Bulls.
“We are fighting for the third seed,” he said. “Over here, we are fighting for home-court advantage. I just felt like this game was also really important.”
He would have been fine to come back just to play in this game before missing a couple of more contests.
“I felt like I had to play this game," he said, “just to make sure we were in good position.”
Embiid is sure at some point he’ll miss at least one of the final 15 games of the season for precautionary reasons for the postseason. The 24-year-old said he and the Sixers haven’t talked about his availability in back-to-backs.
Sixers backup Boban Marjanovic missed his sixth consecutive game with a right knee bone bruise and mild sprain.
Tobias Harris was Philly’s second-leading scorer with 16 points, while Ben Simmons added 15. Bojan Bogdanovic paced the Pacers with 18.