Feed Embiid: Doc Rivers Kept Sixers' Game Plan vs. Hornets Simple

The Philadelphia 76ers went into Monday night's matchup on the road in Charlotte with the hopes of picking up their first consecutive victories in over a month. After taking down the Atlanta Hawks on Friday night, the Sixers faced a depleted Hornets team that missed five players after they were entered into the NBA's health and safety protocol.

Regardless of who they were missing, the Hornets proved they were ready for war on Monday night and kept the game close throughout the matchup. The Sixers didn't get too creative with their game plan on Monday to counter, though. Instead, they went ahead of utilizing the same idea of simply getting Joel Embiid the ball and letting the four-time All-Star go to work. 

"We identified it early," said Sixers coach Doc Rivers. "Not early enough to me, like, we had a matchup, and we kept going to it. . . Feed the pig." While Embiid didn't have a monstrous game right off the bat as he scored just four points in his first nine minutes, the big man turned it up a notch in the second quarter.

Going 3-3 from the field and 7-8 from the free-throw line, Embiid notched 13 points in the nine minutes he appeared in before the half. At halftime, he had 17 points in a little under 17 minutes. From then on, the big man took over and did everything he needed to do to put the Sixers in the best position to win. 

Unfortunately, Embiid's 20-point second-half performance wasn't enough to garner a win in four quarters. With the game tied up 119, the Sixers and the Hornets needed an extra five minutes to settle the score. 

"I thought he got tired, and he told me that in one stretch in overtime," Rivers said in regards to Embiid. "We ran the play for Tobias (Harris) with the little lob play, but other than that, we didn't run much tonight."

Although it was apparent where the ball was going in overtime, Embiid was still too much for the Hornets. As he led the Sixers with five field-goal attempts in the final five minutes of action, Embiid scored six of Philly's eight overtime points. 

"We knew we had a matchup," Rivers concluded. "We kept getting it to him and trusted what he did what the ball. I liked that our guys understood that after a while and then kept doing that."

In total, Embiid finished the game with 43 points in 41 minutes. His dominance helped the Sixers secure a 127-124 victory in overtime, picking up their second-straight win before taking on the Hornets once more on Wednesday.

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