76ers vs. Hornets: Joel Embiid’s Social Media Post After Big Game
The Philadelphia 76ers climbed out of a three-game slump by defeating the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday night at the Wells Fargo Center. Two nights later, the Sixers hoped to build on that momentum and form another win streak.
Sixers center Joel Embiid, who’s been on a mission to lead by example lately, once again put a dominant performance on display after nearly dropping 40 against the Lakers on Friday.
The last time the Sixers played the Charlotte Hornets, Embiid was out with a foot injury. While the Sixers started the matchup off hot with a comfortable lead, they ended up losing in the end. With Embiid back in the mix on Sunday, the team saw different results.
In the first half, Embiid put up 28 points in 18 minutes. The big man drained 10 of his 18 attempts and was perfect from the line, going 7-7.
Eventually, the Sixers closed out the matchup with a comfortable win, but Embiid wouldn’t necessarily get the night off early. The Sixers center checked in for 16 minutes in the second half and produced plenty during that time by knocking down ten of his 14 shots and collecting 25 more points.
After the game, Embiid took to Instagram to react to his performance.
Along with some photos from the night, Embiid used a popular meme to describe how his teammates were throughout the matchup as they continued getting the big man the ball.
During his postgame press conference, Embiid acknowledged that the Sixers stuck to the game plan to essentially feed the hot hand.
“We have a saying, ‘You’ve got to feed the hot hand.’ My teammates, if I just score once, it doesn’t matter anybody on the team, if they just score once, then you’ve got to keep feeding them until the defense stops them once, twice, or three times,” Embiid said. “In that situation, I just kept scoring, and I just kept getting the ball.”
In the end, Embiid finished the game with 53 points on 20-32 shooting in 34 minutes of action. The Sixers sent the Hornets packing with a 131-113 loss. After another dominant showing, Embiid is now averaging 33 points per game in the 18 matchups he appeared in. The All-Star is knocking down 54 percent of his shots, which would mark his career-best as of now.
Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for All76ers, a Sports Illustrated channel. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_.
