ATLANTA — The Philadelphia 76ers saw a breakthrough for star big man Joel Embiid in Sunday’s 120-117 loss to the Atlanta Hawks. Normally, the big fella will have two days off before playing in his next contest, and he was listed as questionable against the Hawks, but Embiid was able to give it a go.

He played well as he scored 22 points with 14 rebounds in 30 minutes two nights after scoring 39 points in 32 minutes on Friday. He was moving well on both end of the floor, was active on the glass, and he put the Sixers in a position where they could come away with a win on Sunday.

With that being said, one has to wonder how Embiid is feeling. This was the first time all season he played after only one day of rest.

“I feel OK,” Embiid said after the loss. “I feel a little tired out there, but I’ll take it. I came out pretty good either way. So, I’ll take it, and obviously, I would’ve felt better if we got the win, but that didn’t happen, but yeah…We’ll see how it feels tomorrow, but it was a good thing.”

As far as the Sixers determining his status for this contest against the Hawks, coach Nick Nurse did say that Embiid was feeling good following the outburst against the Pacers. That allowed the medical staff to feel good about letting him play in Atlanta on Sunday.

“So, I think that the main thing is he was feeling pretty good after the last game,” Nurse explained. “And probably the schedule has helped a little bit, too both pre and post these two games.”

The Sixers, due to the NBA Cup portion of the schedule, had four days off before the matchup with the Pacers on Friday and then another four days off after this contest against the Hawks. That allows the Sixers to maybe push him a bit more than usual. He shot only 8-for-20 on Sunday, but Nurse was happy with what he saw.

“Listen, I thought he had some pretty good opportunities tonight,” he stated. “I thought he had a lot of, again, unfortunate ones, especially some close to the basket that rolled off here and there. I kinda wish he would’ve gotten to the free throw line a bit more tonight. I think he had to—as he was driving, which you all know I love. I thought he was getting rerouted some and things like that and that makes it tough to finish some of those. I think that’s why some of those rolled off the rim for him.”

The Sixers will now look to take advantage of the week and prepare for the New York Knicks on Friday night up at Madison Square Garden.