Joel Embiid Saves America And Then Trolls France At Olympics

Team USA was on the ropes. They trailed Serbia by double digits heading into the 4th Quarter. They were on the brink of one of the greatest upsets in USA history. People were already writing their takes about how badly Team USA choked. But then Joel Embiid became an American hero.

Team USA trailed 82-75 with 6 minutes to go. Embiid then scored 7 straight points to make it 84-82. He also got the assist on the KD bucket before that stretch and got a big block to end it. He finished with 19 points, shooting 8 of 11 from the floor. The 2nd most points on Team USA, and 3rd most in the game. More than Jokic scored, and way more efficient.

He obviously didn't do it himself. Steph Curry was the team MVP scoring 36 points. Curry went 9-14 from deep, including the go-ahead bucket. Lebron and KD added clutch buckets, with Lebron getting an acrobatic layup to tie the game late in the 4th. But they do not win that game without Joel Embiid. Lebron said it himself after the game. In the postgame huddle, he credited "Chef and Joe," for carrying the team to the win.

Team USA was -21 with any other center on the court. Bam was -15 in 10 minutes on the court and scored 0 points. In 10 minutes Anthony Davis nearly had as many fouls (3) as he did points (4). Those 2 did not have it in this game. Embiid did.

He might have struggled in some of the group games. But he was one of their best players in both the Quarter and Semi-Finals. When a team full of the best players in the world was on the ropes, Embiid stepped up. He lived up to the moment. He has taken heat in his career for not doing that. On Thursday he showed that when the lights come on, he shines even brighter

Embiid is a huge reason Team USA will get a chance to win gold on Saturday when they take on France. Without his scoring and his defense, they would be getting ready to play for the Bronze Medal. If Embiid had chosen to play for France, or Cameroon, Team USA would not be here right now.

French fans have left no doubts about how they feel about Embiid. They are not happy he picked Team USA over them. Forget the fact that he has never lived in France, and his only connection to France is that they colonized his actual home country of Cameroon. They felt entitled to his talents.

So when he spurned them and decided to play for the country he has lived in half his life, and where his son was born, they were upset. The French crowds have booed him every time they see him, every time he touches the ball, every time he breathes.

So wouldn't you know it, the Gold Medal now comes down to the team he decided to play for, vs the one he turned down. On Saturday at 3:30, Team USA will take on France to decide who takes home the Gold.

How does Embiid feel about this chance to take on the country that currently hates his guts? In typical Embiid fashion, he let them know after the game vs Serbia.

There are two things Embiid is a master of. Basketball, and trolling. He relishes hate and thrives off of it. So you know he was feeling it when he had that game in front of that crowd. He will love it even more getting to play the home country in front of a completely hostile crowd.

He was asked about it later by the media, and again gave a typical Embiid answer.

Joel Embiid is back. After 3 LONG months without the reigning MVP, Embiid is set to make his return this week. Woj reported early Monday morning that the Sixers expected him back at some point this week.

Boy do the Sixers need him. They were the 3 seed in the Eastern Conference when he injured his meniscus. Now they are the 8 seed. If the season ended today, they would be in the Play-In Tournament. With him, they had the 2nd best record in the league, 26-8. Without him, they are 14-27, the 8th-worst record in the league.

No Joel Embiid has meant teams can key in on Tyrese Maxey. Maxey has done his best, but he alone is just not enough, and the guys behind him haven't all carried their weight. Tobias Harris in particular has failed to live up to the moment, and Buddy Hield has struggled to adapt to his new team.

Looking at how well Embiid played when healthy, the struggles make sense. Embiid averaged over a point per minute. Wilt Chamberlain is the only player in NBA history to do that over a full season. 35.3 points per game, despite averaging 34 minutes per game. He dropped 70 on Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs. That type of production is hard to replace.

In just 34 games, he had 9 40-point games. Many of them despite barely playing in the 4th quarter because the Sixers got out to such a massive lead. He was having a truly special season, that was derailed by the unfortunate injury.

But with him finally making his return, let's relive some of his greatness from earlier in the season. From dropping 48 on the Wizard in early November to his 70-point masterpiece in late January. We kept track of all 9 of his 40-point games, so that we can remember how great he was playing before the injury.

His first 40-point game this season came in early November. The Wizards came to Philly, and Embiid bullied them all game long. He played so well, he needed only 31 minutes to score 48 points. 29 came in the 3rd quarter. Which is a franchise record for the most points in a single quarter. He also had 11 rebounds, 6 assists, and only 1 turnover in that game. The Wizards are not exactly an intimidating opponent. But they have played 42 games this season, and not many other plays have dropped 48 on them in 31 minutes.

Exactly one month later, Embiid went off against the same team. But this time he didn't just break 50, he got to 50 points in the game. Not to mention he also racked up 13 rebounds, 7 assists, and shot 65.5% from the field. 11 of those points came in the last 5 minutes of what was a close game. It was 113-106 when Embiid scored the first of those 11 points. And for you haters that want to talk about Free Throws, he would have scored 39 in this game even if you took away every FT.

A week later, he did it again. This time dropping 21 on the Pistons. And like in that first Wizards game, he needed only 31 minutes to do it. He also had 11 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 steals, and only 2 turnovers.

What is more impressive than scoring 40 in 31 minutes? Doing it in 30 minutes. The Sixers destroyed the Hornets that night, like most teams do. The final score was 135-82 and Embiid never saw the floor in the 4th quarter. He shot 78.3% from the field. And while the Hornets are not exactly a tough team, only 4 other players, Karl Anthony Towns,  Tyrese Haliburton, Paul George, and Jayson Tatum, have scored like this on them this season. And all of them needed at least 38 minutes to reach 40. Though Towns actually wound up scoring 62.

The very next game, Embiid did it again, scoring 40 in 37 minutes. But this time it was in a loss. Maxey scored 29 in the game, but the rest of the team combined managed just 35 combined points. The Sixers had just 38 combined FGs in that game, and Embiid either scored or assisted on 21 of them. He also had 14 rebounds. It was not a great night for the Sixers, who lost 108-104. But it was still a very good game for Embiid.

Okay, for those first 5 games, you could argue it was not exactly tough competition. You can't argue that on this night. The Timberwolves have the best defensive rating in the NBA. Rudy Gobert has the 4th best individual rating as a defender. Embiid still dropped 51 on them. He shot 68% from the field on 25 FG attempts. When Embiid also does it against great teams, the cupcake schedule argument kind of falls apart.

Embiid suffered an injury not too long after the Timberwolves game and missed the end of December. And for 2 games after getting back, he only scored 30 points per game and then got hurt again. But in his first game back after that second injury on 1/15, he scored 41 on the Rockets. Once again it took him only 31 minutes, and he sat out in the 4th quarter. Not bad for a guy who had played just 4 games in 24 days before this game.

Okay, so Embiid misses that game, comes back, and has to immediately play a back-to-back. He drops 41 in game 1, and then comes back out the next night and drops another 41. Only this time it was against the reigning champs and the player he has been battling with for the title of Best Player in the league for years now (Nikola Jokic). This is yet another example of how the "soft schedule" narrative is nonsense. Embiid also had 7 rebounds and 10 assists in the game. All on the way to lifting the Sixers to an impressive 126-121 victory over the Nuggets.

Which brings us to the 70-point game. Embiid needed just 37 minutes to score 70. The fewest minutes needed in NBA history to score 70 in a game, and 1 of only 2 players to score 70 despite playing fewer than 40 minutes. And he did it without shooting 3s. Only one of his FGs came from behind the arc. He shot  58.5 from the field. It was a special night, and one of the best performances we have ever seen in Sixers' history. It broke the record Wilt had held previously.