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3 observations after Embiid makes rusty return, Sixers fall to Knicks originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
Joel Embiid’s season debut did not suddenly unlock the best version of the Sixers.
In their opening game of NBA Cup play, the Sixers fell to a 111-99 defeat Tuesday night to the Knicks at Wells Fargo Center. The Sixers dipped to 2-8 overall and New York moved to 5-5.
Embiid played 26 minutes and had 13 points on 2-for-11 shooting, five assists and three rebounds. He’d missed the Sixers’ opening nine games, first because of “left knee injury management,” then because of an NBA suspension he received for shoving Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Marcus Hayes in the locker room.
Paul George put up 29 points and 10 rebounds.
OG Anunoby was the Knicks’ leading scorer with 24 points. Karl-Anthony Towns posted 21 points and 13 rebounds. Josh Hart recorded a triple-double with 14 points on 6-for-8 shooting, 12 rebounds and 10 assists.
The Sixers were still down Tyrese Maxey (right hamstring strain). Sixers head coach Nick Nurse said pregame that Maxey has recently progressed to “light” on-court activities.
On Wednesday night, the Sixers will host the 12-0 Cavs.. Their second NBA Cup game will be Friday in Orlando against the Magic.
Here are observations on the team’s loss to New York:
Embiid shaking off the rust
The Sixers’ execution was sweet on the night’s first play. They got the ball to Embiid at the right elbow and had George make a flex cut along the left baseline with Kyle Lowry screening. Embiid fed George for an easy layup.
Towns then immediately showed off his stretch five skills, swishing threes on the Knicks’ first two shots.
Embiid couldn’t hit two early jumpers and didn’t score until a pair of foul shots at the 1:40 mark of the first quarter. He exhibited classic signs of rust with moments of deliberate, hesitant decision-making. Embiid had a fruitless post-up against Towns when he drove baseline but elected not to squeeze off a shot, instead passing out to the perimeter. The Sixers committed a shot clock violation on the play.
Embiid’s stints were expectedly briefer than…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/3-observations-embiid-makes-rusty-030948050.html
Author : NBC Sports Philadelphia
Publish date : 2024-11-13 03:09:00
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