Joel Embiid led the Philadelphia 76ers to a win for the first time in the 2024-25 season, dominating for three quarters as they defeated the Chicago Bulls 108-100.
Whether it's the start of something or a flash in the pan remains to be seen. But Embiid's performance against Chicago, and the way he got to the impressive stat line he's made out to be the ground floor of his production over the years, was enough to instill hope that this can be more than just one great game — and that the Sixers could actually amount to something this season.
Nick Nurse told reporters pregame that Embiid would be on a minute restriction but he still played 33 minutes, finishing with 31 points, 12 rebounds, four assists and two blocks on 13-28 shooting from the field. This particular knee injury has been as hard, if not harder, on Embiid's mind as it has his body. It's going to take time to work through this. This performance, though, was as good of a first step as one could reasonably expect.
A shaky start
In his first stint of the game, which lasted a little over five minutes, Embiid looked like he did in his previous appearances: hesitant to explode off his knee and generally passive. He knew his tank couldn’t work up to full capacity so he tried to get by without going too fast.
Embiid's first two shot attempts were threes out of the pick-and-pop. After setting the screen for Tyrese Maxey, he just floated into the open space at the top of the key. Nikola Vucevic's drop coverage was so deep that he was pretty open, so these shots weren’t necessarily bad. They just seemed to be the easy shots that a still-recovering Embiid favored as he learned to trust his knee again.
The big fella can shoot it from deep but these looks don’t do much to punish the defense. The clip above, his second shot attempt, features a ton of real estate right around the nail, where Embiid became an MVP and defense disintegrator. He declines the opportunity even though he would have had time on the shot clock to make a move. This passivity defined the first few minutes of the game for the 76ers.
Embiid's first of six turnovers of the game — and, ironically, his only one in his first shift — was a miscommunication with Paul George. Zach LaVine collected the errant pass and charged up the floor while Embiid ran back under control with shorter strides, allowing LaVine to get into his chest rather than the other way around. It wasn’t the only time he allowed a bucket right at the rim in the early goings.
Embiid eventually started rolling into the nail but his hesitancy was still a hindrance. When he got the ball right in front of the foul line off the pass from PG, he tried to take it through the defense off of his bad leg. He gets no lift, resulting in a midair adjustment to scoop it in. It does not go in. Guerschon Yabusele and Maxey are both open, making this shot selection even worse.
While Embiid was trying to get going, the Bulls were off and running. They had opened up a lead to start the game and would boost it once the big man went to the bench, taking their largest lead of the game (10) just as he started his next shift.
The next quarter flipped the game on its head. Embiid was about to remind people how easy the game can be for him.
Joel Embiid doing what he does
As if all he needed to get going was a brief chance to get reacclimated to the game, Embiid flipped the switch to start the second quarter. From that point on, he was impressively reminiscent of the version of himself he had been before these knee troubles began.
Embiid's first points came on a post-up against Vucevic, whose poor defensive skills would soon be put on full display. He pushed the Bulls center back to the block before resetting his spot with a quick pass and return, pivoting away from where he received the pass to rise up for an uncontested jumper.
For the first few minutes of this game, Embiid wanted no part in being physical to carve out space in the post. Then, he got a taste of success with it, igniting an impulse to feast like a shark smelling a drop of blood. The 76ers would pour it on even more for the rest of the quarter.
The next time he got the ball, he got some extra force on his drive out of the post by pushing his right foot back, which put Vucevic on his heels. Embiid missed but secured the rebound with his defender out of position, resulting in a put-back layup.
The Bulls' poor defense served as a great launchpad back into the swing of things. Whereas teams like the Orlando Magic would have given Embiid more stress, Chicago's defense didn’t offer heavy resistance.
Maxey served up great pocket passes for Embiid on his way to his first career triple-double and a career-high 14 assists. Their chemistry in the pick-and-roll picked up right where it left off last year, making Embiid's defenders decide between containing the speedy Maxey and crowding Embiid enough to deter a pull-up middie. Even when the defense plays it well, it just takes Embiid one jab step to get enough space to fire away.
The Embiid-Maxey two-man game spawned more than just jumpers for the big man. When the defense parted, he took it right to the paint for a layup. Although the big fella wasn’t interested in dunking, he drove it to the rim forcefully.
Embiid securing 31 points in three quarters required a reintroduction to the speed of the game, a five-minute stint where he needed to get his legs under him. In the second quarter, he outscored the Bulls' entire team 19-17. It was a pretty firm reminder that, amid this mess of a session, he's still Joel Embiid.
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All-around excellence
Embiid's performance featured more than a stream of buckets. His first great play of the game was cleaning up his own miss. He hustled to save the ball and tossed a left-handed pass right around Josh Giddey into the hands of Yabusele. That will to compete is still there, even if it’s harder to show with a recovering knee.
Embiid got a few other assists in dribble handoffs to Maxey and Jared McCain, who took advantage of the space created by Vucevic's drop defense.
Defensively, there wasn’t a ton for Embiid to do. The Bulls shot 54 threes compared to just 32 twos. Embiid spent the game guarding one of just two players (along with Giddey) to shoot more frequently inside the arc than outside. He simply needed to rebound the ball and protect the few shots that came his way, which he did. After the two layups he allowed in the first quarter, he shut off the Bulls' rim attempts that came right at him.
Early in the game, Embiid wasn’t eager to leap for a block. He was more content to stick his arms, keep his feet on the ground and allow whatever happened to happen. In the fourth quarter, he was ready to take matters into his own hands. A Coby White layup attempt could have brought the game to within three points. Instead, the 76ers witnessed one of the best plays of the game from their franchise cornerstone.
Joel Embiid's knee problems have had him down and they might again at another point in the season. But he's far from out. What he can do when he’s not fully healthy serves as an excellent reminder of how amazing he can be when he is.