Joel Embiid had all the bulletin board material he needed.
The Philadelphia 76ers center went off, scored 46 points, 9 rebounds and gave eight assists in the Warriors’ 120-112 win over the Sixers Friday night at the Chase Center.
Warriors forward Draymond Green told reporters after the game that Embiid was particularly motivated for the matchup based on comments Green made about his NBA MVP hopeful Nikola Jokić.
“He said: ‘Do you know why I played like this tonight? You said Jokić was the most difficult player in the league to protect. So I took that personally,'” Green said, quoting Embiid.
After taking on Embiid, Green changed his mind.
“I want to tell you all, Joel is the toughest guy in the league,” Green said, laughing.
The warriors did everything they could to stop Embiid, but without much success. However, Green believes the pressure the Golden State defense put on the 7-foot center throughout the game ultimately resulted in some missed baskets late in the game.
“They just don’t want to be on a strict diet,” Green said. “In that fourth quarter we just tried to look at him differently, we shot a couple of times, we sent doubles teams to the floor from the top, we sent doubles teams to the floor from the bottom. We caught the ball at the 3-point line once we lined up the doubles team, the coach gave us free will to fake some shots and back off, trying to throw him off balance.
“[Kevon Looney] did an incredible job all night just fighting him. And by saying that he ended up with 46 points but the way Loon has struggled and kept a body with him all night is hope you wear him down. He made some of those shots throughout the game, missing a few in the last six minutes of the fourth quarter. I just have to trust your defense and trust your process and we did that well.”
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Despite Embiid putting up impressive numbers against Golden State and further cementing his MVP bid, Green and the Warriors walked away with a big win over the Sixers.
Unfortunately for Green, he will face what is now the second toughest player in the league when the Warriors face Jokić and the Denver Nuggets one last time on April 4 at the Ball Arena.
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