Joel Embiid finished with 19 points — his lowest scoring output since Feb. 15 — and added 15 rebounds, four assists and, perhaps most importantly, zero turnovers in the Sixers' dominant Game 1 win Saturday.
As the 76ers trickled off the practice floor Sunday afternoon, the hip-hop soundtrack that typically permeates the gym flipped to the famous aria, performed by Luciano Pavarotti. Off in the distance, Joel Embiid swayed his body to the orchestration’s cadence, sometimes moving his arms as if he was conducting.
“Just keep making the right plays over and over and over,” Embiid said. “I thought tonight it was pretty good.” Still, Sixers coach Doc Rivers identified ways Embiid and the offense around him could be sharper moving forward in the series. Rivers believes Embiid could have posted up even more, instead of always anticipating the extra defender. The coach also said Embiid’s teammates “missed him a lot” when he ducked into the middle of the paint.
As of Sunday afternoon, no players had missed Game 1 of their team’s first-round series because they were in health and safety protocols. Miami Heat standout center Bam Adebayo had been in protocols earlier in the week, but cleared them in time for Sunday’s win over the Atlanta Hawks.
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