Six Thoughts: Vintage Night for Embiid Powers Sixers Past Pacers

With Tyrese Maxey ruled out due to an illness, Joel Embiid and Paul George took the reins as the Sixers outlasted the Indiana Pacers in Philadelphia on Friday night.

Here are six thoughts on the game.

An up and down night for Joel Embiid

Embiid started off the game with some promise on the defensive end of the floor, using his chest and wingspan to disrupt shooters in the paint. His presence on the strong side of the paint was there, whereas most of his defensive highlights of this early season have come when he dashes across the paint from the weak side with momentum carrying him toward the ball. This was a rare occasion in which he had the power to force misses when he was already positioned on the strong side of the floor.

That was encouraging, whereas his offense remained stuck in mud. He was timid and deferential on that end of the floor, forcing George to up the aggression early on. Embiid settled for mid-range jumpers against Jay Huff and second-guessed good looks on catch-and-shoot threes. Very clearly in his own head.

Embiid did collect himself on offense in the second quarter, realizing the Sixers needed someone to step up for the unavailable Maxey to boost the offense. He simply decided to dominate, and did. No one is writing home about Huff, but Embiid applied his physicality against the Pacers big man. He leaned into Huff out of the post and face-up, forcing him to shift his weight into that shoulder before pivoting on the other leg to catch Huff off guard for a good look at jumpers. It took Embiid a little while to find his footing, literally. When he started driving the ball and pushing Huff down into the paint, Embiid lost his footing a couple of times and stumbled to the floor.

But when the big guy did find his footing, he leveraged the force into fouls, earning trips to the charity stripe. Embiid capped his most imposing scoring half of the season with a step-back three over Huff, registering his 19th point of the game just before the break. It ended a streak of 17 straight misses from deep.

Embiid ended up with 33 points through three quarters. He shot 10-for-19 and got to the foul line for 15 free throws. It was vintage, both in dominance and decision-making. Embiid opened the third quarter with a step-back corner three that landed well short of the rim. He chucked a fall-away jumper near the three-point arc later, showing litle patience with the direction the possession was heading.

As he got comfortable, his control of the game loosened. Embiid started making some mistakes with the ball in his hands, giving the Pacers chances to claw back from a double-digit deficit. But when it came down to winning time, Embiid checked back in for his final stretch and slammed the door. In vintage fashion, Embiid stole an offensive rebound on a Grimes miss and put the ball back in through a foul, drawing praise from the locals in attendance.

39 points and nine rebounds for the big guy after his stinker against the Los Angeles Lakers marinated all week. He still has it in there somewhere.

Nembhard, McConnell pushing Embiid's defensive limitations

While it was a proof in point that Embiid still has a lot of offensive juice left in his knees, the likes of Andrew Nembhard and TJ McConnell exposed the depths of Embiid's defensive limitations. He really struggled to stay in front of the ball without fouling in the first half, Nembhard attacking him in space on a switch to earn a foul.

The defensive constraints were particularly problematic once TJ McConnell checked into the game. McConnell's M.O. has long been attacking the mid-range off the dribble, and he absolutely cooked Philadelphia at the elbows.

He and Nembhard took turns attacking the left side of the paint from the top of the key, foricng Embiid to move his feet. There was one possession in which Nembhard absolutely cooked him off the dribble, Embiid conceding that he was beat and giving the guard an uncontested mid-range jumper.

McConnell gives the Sixers fits

The best evidence of McConnell wreaking havoc on Philadelphia was that the Sixers kept collapsing on the paint to thwart his rim pressure. The result of that was open corner threes on the weak side of the floor.

A number of them came with Jared McCain as the nearest defender, which made him appear to be out of position. But McCain was where he was supposed to be. He slid over to the paint to account for cutters on the side of the floor opposite the ball. The problem was that the interior defense was so collapsed that he was making the last rotation and the big was too far in the paint to cover for McCain. So when the ball spit to the opposite corner, McCain had very little chance to recover in time to get a hand up.

George steps up

With Maxey out, the Sixers needed George to eat up a bigger share of the ball-handling duties than he's had for most of the season. He did not disappoint.

George was assertive from the jump. Not only did he make it his responsibility to aggressively hunt shots, but George kept his head up with the ball in his hands. He found cutters and shooters all first quarter, jump-starting Philadelphia's offense out of the gate.

Having acted as the training wheels on the offense's bike, George settled into more of a slashing role as the game went on. It was the idealized version of what his role on this team looks like. George attaked defenders off the dribble when the ball swung his way, relying on his handle and legs to create marginal space for pull-up jumpers. And when the attention was on one side of the floor, George relocated in chaos for open threes.

When the Sixers made a run to eventually tie the game in the middle of the fourth quarter, he pushed his way back to the front of Philadelphia's offense. The three other guys on the floor spread out as Embiid set a pick for George, the two-man game catalyzing the possession for the Sixers.

Having said that...

George does not get a pass for taking primary assignment on the all-powerful Garrison Matthews. George has lost a step defensively and had heightened offensive responsibilities on Friday, but letting someone else handle Pascal Siakam or Nembhard is just not acceptable. I don't really care to hear about how George is a roamer and still an outstanding team defender. You're the big wing with excellent credentials. Take the best guys on the opposition when the game hangs in the balance.

VJ Edgecombe fills in gaps

Edgecombe understood he had expanded responsibilities with Maxey out, and he answered the call. The rookie had 14 points through the first quarter. You could tell he had his legs under him after four days without a game when he knocked down a pull-up three in transition. Edgecombe scored 18 of his 22 points on the night in the first half, trusting himself to attack the paint off the dribble. It would be easy for a rookie to get a little shy around the rim knowing that things haven't gone so well for him at the hoop. Edgecombe was not fazed, getting to the front of the basket for short floaters and layups throughout the game.

He battled against Indiana's physicality, preying on smaller or slower Pacers to earn fouls. And when their heads were turned, Edgecombe darted through space to put some pressure on the rim as a cutter.

It was Edgecombe's first 20-point game since the middle of November, and he did it from all levels of the floor.