Nick Nurse Praises Joel Embiid's Efforts vs. Raptors

On Saturday night, the Philadelphia 76ers took down the Toronto Raptors, 114-107, giving them their first win of the season.

Joel Embiid had himself a night, dropping 34 points, while grabbing nine boards for his team, showing that the rust that was present in the season opener was gone.

From tip-off Embiid appeared to be in control, dropping 14 points in the opening quarter alone, while finding three shots for his teammates.

Then coming out of halftime, the defending MVP came out on fire, putting up 13 points in the third quarter, which helped the Sixers create a healthy distance in the scoreline.

While he had his first 30+ point night of the season, Nick Nurse took time to highlight his work on the defensive end of the court as one of the standouts, especially given that it is an area which they're trying to work on with the defending MVP.

"He did a great job at the rim, I think we got some goals for him, and one is to be much more of a rim protector...," said Nurse, "I thought he did a really good job of that tonight... I know he changed a lot of shots tonight and made them miss a lot."

Throughout the 35 minutes on the court, Embiid made two blocks, while also recording one steal.

While Nurse likes what he did defensively, the 56-year-old had more to praise about his work on the offensive end, which wasn't just limited to his scoring ability, but his vision as well.

"I thought he did more dominant things offensively, he got it in there deep and drove the ball and did some things..." explained Nurse, "He was really decisive on some of the double teams, he got it and fired to a hard cutting player or an open shooter."