Sixers’ Joel Embiid was determined not to see the 4th quarter vs. Wizards
PHILADELPHIA–The Philadelphia 76ers welcomed the Washington Wizards into the Wells Fargo Center on Monday night looking to handle business. The Sixers recently squeaked out a win over the Wizards on the road on Dec. 6.
There would be no squeaking on Monday.
Philadelphia jumped out to a 14-0 lead, led by as many as 48, and smashed the Wizards 146-101. The Sixers have now won three games in a row and they received a big game from Joel Embiid who had 34 points, 11 rebounds, and six assists in only 29:36 of playing time.
It felt like the 14-0 start was a killer for Philadelphia and the lead was as large as 17 in the first quarter alone. The Wizards aggressively doubled Embiid in this one, but it didn’t matter. He pushed the ball in transition off of rebounds and he made the right play every time.
“Just pushing the ball in transition,” Embiid said. “Getting stops. They were loading up a lot. Just trying to make sure to take some of those drives away, but I felt like we just made the right plays over and over.”
The third quarter was a big one for Embiid. He had 17 points on a perfect 7-for-7 shooting in the third and that allowed him to rest the entire fourth quarter. That is something he was determined to do in this one.
“Just trying to put them away,” Embiid explained. “Trying to make sure that I wasn’t going to see the fourth quarter. I just wanted to be aggressive. Not just scoring, just attacking, attacking, and if they were closing out on me, just try to make the right play, and I made a few shots.”
The rest in the fourth quarter was needed for the big fella after he entered the night listed as questionable due to left knee soreness. He stated that he felt good in terms of his knee, and as far as the many fourth quarters he hasn’t had to play in, he credits the team for playing together and getting the job done early.
“We’re just playing together,” he said. “I think depending some nights, you have it go long on so you gotta keep pressing the issue and keep punishing them, you know, the other team’s defense, but I’m more happy about just our mentality defensively today (Monday). We were much better than we’ve been.”
Embiid is correct about that. The Wizards scored 126 points in the matchup on Wednesday and Philadelphia was much better on the defensive end in this one. That is a big step up for the Sixers as they now look ahead to the Detroit Pistons on Wednesday on the road.
