Joel Embiid reacts to another big night, resting late in latest Sixers win

PHILADELPHIA–The Philadelphia 76ers have been leaning on Joel Embiid to lead the way and he answered the call again on Sunday in a 112-93 win over the Washington Wizards at home. It was a wire-to-wire win on a night when the Sixers led by as many as 25.

Embiid was once again dominant as he scored 34 points on 12-for-21 shooting and he shot 10-for-12 from the free-throw line. There was nobody the Wizards could throw on him to slow him down and he ended up taking advantage of it.

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“Just trying to be aggressive,” said Embiid. “When you’re aggressive, you’re worried about the right things, the ball will find you. That’s a match up against Washington, I think the last time we played them, we lost, but I think I had like 47 points.”

Embiid had 48 points in a 116-111 loss to the Wizards back on Dec. 27. The Sixers didn’t have a great night on the defensive end so the big fella wanted to be sure that he set the tone for Philadelphia on both ends.

“I just knew going into the game that if I was aggressive offensively and defensively just trying to do my job to help everybody else, I knew that we would have a chance,” Embiid added. “The ball just finds the right energy. The ball just found me.”

Embiid only played 31:11 on the night and he didn’t have to play at all in the fourth quarter in order for him to get some rest. That was a big difference for him compared to Friday’s win over the Portland Trail Blazers when he had to throw the Sixers on his back and help them rally from a 21-point deficit.

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“It was great,” the big man added. “I love not playing in the fourth quarter. It means we’re doing something good. So, gotta keep building on that, but we did it as a team. Everybody contributed and it’s is all about really how we started the game. Intensity defensively. We didn’t go down to 20 this time so it makes it easy.”

Now, Embiid and the Sixers will head out on the road for a three-game road trip beginning with Wednesday’s matchup with the Cleveland Cavaliers. The contest will begin a stretch where they will play seven of their next eight games on the road.

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Story originally appeared on Sixers Wire