PHILADELPHIA — It had been 25 games since Paul George was last in the lineup for the Philadelphia 76ers. It had been 13 games without Joel Embiid.
The difference, the Chicago Bulls found out Wednesday night, was historically stark.
Embiid returned from his oblique strain with a devastatingly efficient 35 points in 28 minutes, and George was welcomed back from his suspension for violating the NBA’s drug policy with 28 points in a 157-137 win over the Bulls at the Xfinity Mobile Arena.
For all the ramifications for this season, there’s one for posterity, too: The 76ers scored the eighth-most points in franchise history and the most since Feb. 15, 1970.
The 76ers’ Joel Embiid, right, goes up for a shot against the Bulls’ Nick Richards during the first half Wednesday night. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
Embiid was hyper efficient from the start. George shook off some early shooting rust to look capable of shouldering the scoring lead needed while Tyrese Maxey and Kelly Oubre remain out in what he called a “great professional win” in which the 76ers led by as many as 47 early in the fourth quarter.
Embiid was a clinical 12-for-17 from the field. He added six rebounds and seven assists and didn’t have to play a second in the fourth quarter. He was a plus-33.
George shot just 2-for-10 from the field in the first half but ended up with 11-for-22. He added six rebounds, four assists and four steals. It’s his third-highest scoring game of the season.
“It was great,” Embiid said of George. “Obviously it’s all about the end of the season, so we’ve got to make sure everything is on point. So seeing him get hot, as was the case for his last game, that’s going to be big for us, especially in the playoffs.”
Embiid called his physical state “good enough,” admitting he is still in pain with the oblique strain. The time off has given for the knee issues that have dogged him aren’t a factor. He’s also nursing a minor right wrist situation that hasn’t been on the injury reports.
“My knees haven’t been an issue for a long time,” said Embiid, who hasn’t spoken to the media since the Feb. 26 injury. “So that’s past me. The oblique was very tricky, and it still is tricky. It’s really nothing you can do about it. Just got to let it ride and hope that it doesn’t get worse. …
“It’s really painful,” he continued, about the oblique. “You can’t cough, can’t sneeze. Every time you sneeze, it feels like you go right back to where you started. It’s still not where it’s supposed to be. I’ve just got to hope that we are at the point where I don’t think maybe when the season is over and I’m off, maybe it’s going to get better.”
VJ Edgecombe added 22 points on just 7-for-9 shooting. Quentin Grimes had 13 points. Cameron Payne supplied 15 off the bench, and Jusitn Edwards added 12.
Embiid got off to a sizzling start, canning a 3-pointer on the second possession of the game. He started 5-for-5 from the field and was 6-for-7 for 15 points in six minutes.
“I just shot the ball, and it went in,” Embiid said. “I guess it kept going in. So I was like, let’s keep shooting.”
Embiid’s scoring slowed a touch in the second quarter, but he had 23 points in 16 first-half minutes and a plus-14, with Sixers leading by 19.
Embiid played the entire third quarter, more than enough to subdue the moribund Bulls. He shot 5-for-7 in the frame. The offense as a whole, unsurprisingly, flowed better around the immense gravity that Embiid’s all-levels scoring exerts.
“I was just really happy with the way the ball kept moving,” coach Nick Nurse said. “I thought we as a team played really good offense there for a long stretch. It was a lot of, when he got it, we got double cuts and kick-outs and extra passes and guys making the right decision.”
George’s start was slower. He went 0-for-2 in the first quarter, both 3-point attempts, in a stint of 6:03, with three rebounds and an assist.
He drove to the basket on the first possession of the second quarter to get on the board. He shot 2-for-10 in the first half, including 1-for-5 from 3-point range, the lone make from deep 8.0 seconds left in a fitting bit of symbolism.
That started a run where he made 10 of his last 13 attempts, “bringing back classic moments in my scoring bag,” as George put it.
“I think I was just rushing it,” George said. “Just excited, rushing shots. Second half, I just had the mindset of just taking my time, getting good looks, getting into a flow, take what’s available and keep shooting.”
Nurse said the 76ers ran offense for George in the third, particularly out of timeouts. That got him going, and it set up iso offense in the fourth for vintage instances of the nine-time All-Star dominating his man.
“My body felt 100% better,” George said. “I felt pretty explosive, pretty strong. I felt good. I felt great. So it definitely helped. And because of that, mentally, I just feel like I can play basketball at a high level.”
Nurse demurred on the question of back-to-backs with George before the game, but George said he hopes to feel well enough to tackle each of the two remaining on the schedule, with a goal of playing all 10 of remaining games, starting with Wednesday.
“I hope so. We’re going to definitely attack it one game at a time,” George said. “But I want to play all of these 10, give us the best chance to get a good seed, get good positioning. So if my body is still feeling how I expect it to feel, absolutely.”
Embiid was more wait-and-see on the question, deferring to the “following whatever plan they have for me.”
George’s return was the more poignant, the veteran wanting to step up for the teammates that supported him during his suspension. For Embiid, the return was a reminder of what the full group can be when the rotation is restored.
“It’s good, obviously, we’ve only got a couple games (left), but we’ve had the whole season doing the same things, so we know what we’re doing,” Embiid said. “So all about getting everybody back and playing good basketball.”