[Lowe] “I want back the feeling that we had so often in his MVP season … when we’re in the middle of a game … where he’s completely unstoppable”

13 comments

  1. Zach Lowe had a great segment on how it is watching Embiid at his best. That video is timestamped to the section, here’s the text;

    “I want back the feeling that we had so often in his MVP season and when you had the 70-point game and 50-point games and all that — when we’re in the middle of a game, like a capital G Game for Embiid, where he’s completely unstoppable and every single possession is just: get the ball to Embiid at the nail.

    Yeah, like the post-ups are cool. He’s a great post-up player and they’ll mix that in, but like 10 possessions in a row? Give me the ball at the nail.

    Watch how the defense reacts. And I’m going to hold it with one hand — with one giant hand — and I’m just going to watch. People are going to cut. I’m watching for what the defense is going to do. Where’s the help? Where’s my driving lane going to be? What are my choices? Because my options are infinite.

    I can just shoot. I can back you down from the nail. I can pump and go. I can finish with either hand. I can bait you into a foul. I am, in that moment, Joel Embiid — in complete control of everything that’s happening in the game. Yeah, I am the game.

    And when he’s in the middle of a great game, the buzz, the excitement, the anticipation in the crowd for him just to get the ball — before he even gets it — is palpable and exciting in a way that only like five basketball players at any given time can make you feel. Completely.

    I hope we get some of that. I also think it’s what separates him from even some of the other best players out there. Like, there is a mental gear shift that allows Joel Embiid to be an absolute killer in that specific way.

    …

    And when Joel does that, it’s what makes him so watchable. You know, despite the grifting, despite the falling, despite whatever anxieties you may have about his game — that version of this guy is one of the most watchable players in the league.”

  3. I feel like the reason why the regular season Embiid showed up in the 2024 playoffs is because he was like “fuck it , I am tired of playing the team way and losing , I am gonna do it myself”

  5. I don’t really give a fuck want Zach wants for his own entertainment. I want Joel to play at 80% speed and win games until the playoffs when he can turn it on

  6. One of my favorite things going into this season is how little I give a shit about these ringer/espn/whatever opinions they got on the Sixers

  7. 2024 Embiid, before the injury, was legitimately as good as any player in history.

    36/12/6/1/2 in 34mpg on 65%TS with elite defensive impact…

    Sixers won at a 65 win pace with him and a 30 win pace without him. 50.3p/100, James Harden’s NBA record is 48.8

  8. Zach usually gives very fair takes on Joel when he’s not being pressured by Simmons and the other cocksuckers at The Ringer to shit on him.

  9. Nice to see Zach mention what so many Sixers fans are in denial about: the broadcast is terrible. The drop off from Zumoff to Kate has to be the biggest downgrade in the history of sports media.

    Kate and Alaa gotta go!

  10. I said a long time ago, when all is said and done and embiid is gone, all of Embiid’s haters are going to come out of the woodwork and say “we really took this guy for granted”

  11. What feeling? I want the feeling of winning in the playoffs.. I don’t give a damn about the regular season

    Sound like Cowboys fans

  12. I feel like Zach Lowe has been generally reasonable when it comes to Embiid, so I don’t mind listening to any of his criticisms.

    It’s the other media guys that regurgitate the same on/off stats for Jokic, but fail to acknowledge that with Embiid off the court the Sixers are literally a lottery team. I get it Jokic is great, but they downplay Embiid to pump up Jokic and it just gets to a point where I stop listening.

    At least this offseason has kind of been good in the sense that I don’t have to hear about the Sixers from people that clearly don’t know or care about the team. All media heads just lump them into their own category of “who knows” and I’m fine with that, it makes them slightly less unbearable to listen to.

  13. Mahoney commented on the watchability of the sixers and at first I thought he was gonna parrot the same bullshit about free throws. But then he said the sixers are less watchable because the anxiety over joel getting injured is too high. And honestly that is a completely fair take that shit has taken years off my life.

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