James Harden Tweets About Joel Embiid Following Win Over Cavaliers

On Wednesday morning, the Philadelphia 76ers participated in a morning shootaround session ahead of their big matchup.

When the team took the floor at the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland, Ohio, members of the team weren't donning their usual shootaround uniforms.

Instead, most players were seen wearing a shirt that contained an old picture of Philadelphia 76ers star center Joel Embiid to celebrate the big man's birthday.

Among those who donned the shirt was Sixers star guard James Harden. Like his teammates, Harden wanted to show support for the five-time All-Star center on his 28th birthday before they took on the Cavaliers.

Hours later, the Sixers returned to the arena in Cleveland to prepare to take on the Cavaliers for the third time this season. Joel Embiid, who was downgraded to questionable due to back soreness after a hard fall in Monday night's game, was a game-time decision.

Fortunately for the Sixers, Embiid played in Wednesday's matchup. While his back was an issue heading into the game, it didn't hold Embiid back against Cleveland. 

In the first 11 minutes of action, Embiid was borderline unstoppable as he drained all but one of his seven shots from the field and put up nearly half of Philly's 30 first-quarter points himself. 

For the rest of the game, the big man continued to dominate. He scored a game-high of 35 points in 34 minutes as the Sixers got by the Cavaliers with a 118-114 win on the road. After the game, James Harden took to Twitter to tweet about his co-star, wishing him a happy birthday.

Like Embiid, Harden was key to Philly's win on Wednesday. While he didn't go off, Harden had a stellar outing as he scored 21 points in 42 minutes. In addition to his scoring, Harden generated 11 assists and came down with two rebounds while snagging two steals.

Now, Harden, Embiid, and the Sixers will look ahead as they are set to return home on Friday night to host the Dallas Mavericks.

Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for Sports Illustrated. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_.