Phoenix Suns Explained What Worked vs. 76ers’ Joel Embiid

The Philadelphia 76ers weren’t entering their Saturday night matchup against the Phoenix Suns after a win against the Golden State Warriors.

However, Sixers center Joel Embiid did put an MVP-caliber performance on display, which left the Suns understanding that they needed a complete team effort to slow down the big man’s offensive attack.

This year, Embiid leads the NBA in scoring, putting up 33 points per game. On Saturday night, the Suns managed to hold Embiid to a below-average scoring night by the big man’s standards.

“I think just trusting the game plan that the coaches handed us,” Suns big man Bismack Biyombo told reporters when asked about what worked against Embiid on Saturday.

“Usually to watch some of the clips of the previous games they had, obviously, Joel is a great player,” he continued. “I think we tried to throw him different looks the whole night. Obviously, I had to guard him. When you play a player like that, it is always a team effort.”

Multiple factors could’ve played into Embiid’s struggles on Saturday. Not only was he coming off of a 37-minute shift against the Warriors on Friday, a game where he took 23 shots from the field and 22 free throws, but Embiid was also battling calf tightness, which bothered him during Wednesday’s game against the Chicago Bulls.

While Embiid certainly didn’t possess the energy to look like the best version of himself on Saturday, Phoenix definitely did a solid job of making life on the court tough for Embiid with their defensive attack.

“Thank God everything kind of worked out for us,” Biyombo continued. “We were really focused on helping out one another. I think everyone did a good job. Our second unit was able to sustain us. TJ Warren played extremely great, Terrence Ross played extremely great, Jock, and Cameron Payne. Just play through each other and try to make sure we can maintain that energy.”

Embiid checked in for 32 minutes on Saturday. He put up 19 shots from the field and went to the free-throw line for 13 foul shots. Embiid would finish the night with 28 points in the Sixers’ 125-105 loss to the Suns on Saturday.

The All-Star big man will get the day off on Sunday to rest up ahead of the battle against Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets on Monday night.

Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for All76ers, a Sports Illustrated channel. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_.