Joel Embiid - 23-24 NBA Thread - 23 NBA MVP

[Colbinii]

Impressive from Embid considering he can barely jump right now

He sure can kick though [and push].

[Peregrine01]

It was quite clear that the NBA officials put away the "points of emphasis" for Embiid today. All the "marginal contact" that was getting let go for all of these playoffs was magically getting called.

[f4p]

Well he just did 50/84 on 19 shots in what has been a much more defensive playoff season in both conferences.

Haven't watched the series but he's a big positive in the on-court +/- in each game. Philly has slammed NYK with him out there every game.

he'd be up 2-1 if not for the fact the sixers got outscored by a ridiculous 21 points in the 9 minutes he sat in game 1. through the first 2 games he had an on/off of +84.1, which i don't think i've ever seen on basketball reference before. and tonight he added a +16 on and -5 off (in 7 minutes i think, which will actually hurt his off).

[f4p]

It was quite clear that the NBA officials put away the "points of emphasis" for Embiid today. All the "marginal contact" that was getting let go for all of these playoffs was magically getting called.

well, when you release a L2M that basically says "oops, we gave the wrong team the game", you kind of put it in the refs minds that they better do something about it next game. on the other hand, how many calls were really that controversial (that gave him free throws, not the flagrant 1)? he got like 8 ft's at the end when the knicks were fouling and the 3 hartenstein fouled him on was obvious. if anyone was getting fouls that were supposed to be a point of emphasis, it was brunson with the trae young jump back into the defender move that he got called over and over.

[Peregrine01]

It was quite clear that the NBA officials put away the "points of emphasis" for Embiid today. All the "marginal contact" that was getting let go for all of these playoffs was magically getting called.

well, when you release a L2M that basically says "oops, we gave the wrong team the game", you kind of put it in the refs minds that they better do something about it next game. on the other hand, how many calls were really that controversial (that gave him free throws, not the flagrant 1)? he got like 8 ft's at the end when the knicks were fouling and the 3 hartenstein fouled him on was obvious. if anyone was getting fouls that were supposed to be a point of emphasis, it was brunson with the trae young jump back into the defender move that he got called over and over.

They were soft calls that haven't been called all playoffs. I just wished the NBA made it less obvious sometimes. Brunson's calls were mostly window-dressing to make the officiating seem less lopsided than it really was.

[Mickey8]

A dirty,ugly player that is protected by the refs. None of those fouls on him were real fouls, it was Embiid throwing himself into defender. Embiid without NBA refs is nobody.

[Mickey8]

Another must win game disappearance. How can 7"1, 280 pounds player be such a bad rebounder????

[TroubleS0me]

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[TroubleS0me]

Another must win game disappearance. How can 7"1, 280 pounds player be such a bad rebounder????

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[Mickey8]

We know that he can't make those shots in the play off's but his rebounding

[web123888]

Embiid is an all time great regular season performer and a future hall of famer but will be known like Robinson, Ewing, Malone, Harden, Paul etc as being unable to deliver when it matters. Also hasn't led a team past the 2nd round as of yet which all the other players easily did, and in most cases the Finals as well.

[lessthanjake]

Embiid is an all time great regular season performer and a future hall of famer but will be known like Robinson, Ewing, Malone, Harden, Paul etc as being unable to deliver when it matters. Also hasn't led a team past the 2nd round as of yet which all the other players easily did, and in most cases the Finals as well.

Yeah, to be fair though, a lot of those guys you mentioned only actually first made the conference finals around the same age (or, in a couple cases, even older) than Embiid is. Embiid is in his age-29 season, and Paul, Ewing, Robinson, and Malone first got their teams to the conference finals in their age 32, 30, 29, and 28 years respectively. So Embiid is not really off the trajectory of guys like that on paper, and all of those guys did subsequently make the Finals. The problem for Embiid is that he’s got so many health issues, and those sorts of issues don’t usually decrease with age, so it’s a bit hard to imagine things getting better for him in the future. That said, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Sixers used their cap space on a major star this offseason and the Sixers immediately started making Finals runs.

[rk2023]

A dirty,ugly player that is protected by the refs. None of those fouls on him were real fouls, it was Embiid throwing himself into defender. Embiid without NBA refs is nobody.

I don’t even like Embiid and there’s a lot about his game that turns me off, but this gig just seems rent free lol.

[web123888]

Embiid is an all time great regular season performer and a future hall of famer but will be known like Robinson, Ewing, Malone, Harden, Paul etc as being unable to deliver when it matters. Also hasn't led a team past the 2nd round as of yet which all the other players easily did, and in most cases the Finals as well.

Yeah, to be fair though, a lot of those guys you mentioned only actually first made the conference finals around the same age (or, in a couple cases, even older) than Embiid is. Embiid is in his age-29 season, and Paul, Ewing, Robinson, and Malone first got their teams to the conference finals in their age 32, 30, 29, and 28 years respectively. So Embiid is not really off the trajectory of guys like that on paper, and all of those guys did subsequently make the Finals. The problem for Embiid is that he’s got so many health issues, and those sorts of issues don’t usually decrease with age, so it’s a bit hard to imagine things getting better for him in the future. That said, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Sixers used their cap space on a major star this offseason and the Sixers immediately started making Finals runs.

Well that's encouraging for Embiid then. The East is nothing special really. The Celtics aren't a prime Warriors level unbeatable team and clearly the Bucks aren't anything special. If Embiid gets healthy and maybe a slightly better team he might get his crack at the promised land.

[Mickey8]

Embiid is an all time great regular season performer and a future hall of famer but will be known like Robinson, Ewing, Malone, Harden, Paul etc as being unable to deliver when it matters. Also hasn't led a team past the 2nd round as of yet which all the other players easily did, and in most cases the Finals as well.

Yeah, to be fair though, a lot of those guys you mentioned only actually first made the conference finals around the same age (or, in a couple cases, even older) than Embiid is. Embiid is in his age-29 season, and Paul, Ewing, Robinson, and Malone first got their teams to the conference finals in their age 32, 30, 29, and 28 years respectively. So Embiid is not really off the trajectory of guys like that on paper, and all of those guys did subsequently make the Finals. The problem for Embiid is that he’s got so many health issues, and those sorts of issues don’t usually decrease with age, so it’s a bit hard to imagine things getting better for him in the future. That said, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Sixers used their cap space on a major star this offseason and the Sixers immediately started making Finals runs.

They should be shipping him out as soon the season ends. To try to get as many assets you can for him while he still have the high value. They are not winning championship with him.

[MartinToVaught]

A dirty,ugly player that is protected by the refs. None of those fouls on him were real fouls, it was Embiid throwing himself into defender. Embiid without NBA refs is nobody.

I don’t even like Embiid and there’s a lot about his game that turns me off, but this gig just seems rent free lol.

Is he wrong, though? The dirty plays that Embiid's been allowed to get away with this series are egregious. He's getting Draymond-level latitude from the refs on those kinds of plays, and everyone complains about Draymond too, so Embiid is not unique in "living rent free" on this issue.

Embiid's also started getting his soft regular-season whistle in the playoffs. The foul-baiting is even harder to respect than it usually is when it's done by a player his size.

Those annoyances are bad enough on their own, but he also gets outhustled for rebounds and stands around on the perimeter against smallball lineups, never has any stamina to do anything in the fourth quarter of playoff games because of his poor conditioning, and still expects to be crowned MVP every year when he's not even the best player in the league at his position. There's just not much to like about his game.

[Mickey8]

The annoying thing is that only Embiid is getting those calls in his favor all the time even after the all star break where NBA was supposedly cleaned up the game. Jokic is trying to get that same call for the last month, I think he's doing it out of amusement and the refs never giving it to him. He tried that same baiting last game and in the game 3 when he attempted that three point shot which ended up to be the lose ball that luckily ended up in MPJ possession for that important three point field gold. Embiid is the most protected player in the league, I don't know what is the deal of him getting all those suspicious calls every season. Its not that he's dominating the paint, his post up game is lousy.

[GSP]

Another must win game disappearance. How can 7"1, 280 pounds player be such a bad rebounder????

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He had his career playoff high and really the best playoff game he ever played in game 3 so the injury excuse wont fly. Everyones banged up and he was lighting it up to the tune of 38,9,5 on .629ts before this game. He is just a choker and alltime playoff dropper maybe THE playoff dropper among Mvp alltime greats.

He has a big chance to shed narrative if he comes back 3-1 and its looking like the Pacers next round which they have no answer for him and a bad playoff defense. Path to a conference finals couldnt be easier for Sixers.

Mitchell Robinson was the only Knick that could guard him and he purposely injured him. Then got shut down by wing Og Anunoby

Joels skillset is cool and all. Ppl say hes a 7ft 280lb wing w/ perimeter skills thats cool when he drops 50-60 on the Hornets or Pistons but he needs to play like an actual big to sustain that production in playoffs. Back to basket especially not facing up all the time

[Peregrine01]

I see his game 3 as a gifted game to make up for the ref's mistakes in game 2. One, he really shouldn't have been on the court with all the flagrants and two, he paraded to the free throw line on cheap fouls.

Injury aside, the main recurring theme with Embiid is that he doesn't do well when the game gets harder. He looks like a world beater in the regular season when he gets such a friendly whistle that opposing defenders are scared of even guarding him but when the officiating shifts and defenses can key in, he just seems to disappear. Anunoby killing him on the boards in the 4th was a terrible look.

[f4p]

I see his game 3 as a gifted game to make up for the ref's mistakes in game 2. One, he really shouldn't have been on the court with all the flagrants and two, he paraded to the free throw line on cheap fouls.

I mean he made 5 3s, including I think 4 in a row in the 3rd. Did the refs make those for him? Like maybe, maybe he got 2 or 4 free throws cheaply in a 50 point game. So "only" a 48 point game.

Injury aside, the main recurring theme with Embiid is that he doesn't do well when the game gets harder. He looks like a world beater in the regular season when he gets such a friendly whistle that opposing defenders are scared of even guarding him but when the officiating shifts and defenses can key in, he just seems to disappear. Anunoby killing him on the boards in the 4th was a terrible look.

While I agree he's maybe the greatest playoff dropper ever, this series doesn't seem to be the time for these criticisms. His numbers are enormous and Philly is getting obliterated in his off minutes

Game 1 : -21 in 9 minutes
Game 1 : -6 in 7 minutes
Game 1 : -5 in 5 minutes
Game 1 : -6 in 4 minutes

He's outscored the Knicks when on the court in all 4 games and is down 3-1. Doctor MJ has some stats about how often people lose playoff games while being a plus on the court and I don't think anyone is over single digit games in their career and embiid is at 3 games just in this series.

Like in the 4th there was a play where the Knicks doubled him off of maxey, who was standing only about 10 feet away and got a wide open 3 (that he missed). They basically doubled him on any post up I saw in the 4th ( for the person saying he should be back to the basket, not being back to the basket is arguably the only way he avoids immediate doubles).

And it seems at least pretty clear that a guy who missed half the season and got reinjured in game 1 is probably not at his regular season health level (where he obviously doesn't play through injuries because that would be stupid).