Sixers' Coach Explains Leaving Joel Embiid In For Heavy Shift

Sixers' coach Nick Nurse talked about why he left Joel Embiid in for much of the fourth quarter.

Oct 31, 2025; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid (21) looks on before the game against the Boston Celtics at Xfinity Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Ross-Imagn Images | Kyle Ross-Imagn Images

On Friday night, the Philadelphia 76ers took on the Boston Celtics for the first night of the NBA Cup. The match wouldn’t start out well for the Sixers, as the Celtics came out swinging, dropping 38 points in the first quarter alone. Much of this early offense was thanks in large part to Jaylen Brown, who scored 16 points in the opening 12 minutes, converting on 87 percent of his shots.

Oct 31, 2025; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia 76ers guard Tyrese Maxey (0) shoots the ball against the Boston Celtics in the first quarter at Xfinity Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Ross-Imagn Images | Kyle Ross-Imagn Images

While Philadelphia would start to claw its way back into the match towards the end of the second quarter, bringing its deficit down to 11 points, they would come close to taking the lead in the third after Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey would combine for 17 in the third quarter alone.

Embiid’s larger role in the fourth quarter

Given this back-and-forth action down the second half, Nick Nurse opted to keep his best players out on the court as the Sixers looked to take the lead.

This resulted in Maxey playing the full 12 minutes of the fourth quarter, in which he’d record five points and four rebounds, while Embiid’s seven-minute shift would take him to a new season-high in minutes played: 25 minutes and four seconds.

Oct 31, 2025; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid (21) blocks a shot against the Boston Celtics in the second quarter at Xfinity Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Ross-Imagn Images | Kyle Ross-Imagn Images

While this is more than the average for some players in the league, and was certainly the case for Embiid in years past, the Sixers’ staff currently has him under a minutes restriction, which for the majority of the opening games has hovered around 20 minutes.

After the game, Nurse explained the decision to play Embiid for the better half of the closing quarter, elaborating that it was the first time they had been faced with that decision this season, while also not straying too far from how’ve they’d handled things thus far into the season, putting in Adem Bona to start it, while bringing in the former MVP to finish things off.

“So it was kind of the first time we were in that situation, where we had a chunk of minutes left, we were trying to decide which way to go with it. I almost felt like we were able to do a little bit of both of what we’ve been doing, which is start [Adem] Bona in the fourth and create some defensive energy and a few different schemes and stuff, I think it worked pretty good.”

Oct 31, 2025; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid (21) shoots the ball against the Boston Celtics in the first quarter at Xfinity Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Ross-Imagn Images | Kyle Ross-Imagn Images

Despite the Cameroonian’s efforts in the fourth, when he’d record three points and three assists, the Sixers walked away with their first loss of the season, dropping the match, 108-109. When reflecting on Embiid’s performance in the closing 12 minutes, Nurse was happy with how he played.

“He [Joel] was good, I thought he was good at both ends down the stretch, obviously,” Nurse said.