PHILADELPHIA — The familiar blue backdrop, the one with “Playoffs” printed repeatedly in all caps, is back behind the podium. But with all the pressure expected to pack this Sixers postseason, Joel Embiid, James Harden and Philadelphia’s cast of outside shooters seemed to feel anything but tension throughout a wire-to-wire, 121-101 victory over the Brooklyn Nets in Game 1 of their first-round series Saturday. Connecting on 21-of-43 attempts from beyond the arc — a franchise playoff record — can certainly suppress the weight of mounting expectations.
Embiid stood patiently as Brooklyn sent second defender after second defender in his direction. With each of his touches around the foul line, some rangy Nets wing scrambled from a new spot on the floor, presenting a game of whack-a-mole, and the 7-foot center routinely raised the ball like the Statue of Liberty, then fired rockets toward open shooters. Whenever Brooklyn switched his high-screen action with Harden, Nets center Nic Claxton would zoom back onto Embiid’s hip for another double-team, as if dragged by some magnetic pull.
Embiid tallied only three assists, but his laser skips to the opposite corners and back above the break often sent Brooklyn’s defense into a reckless rotation, allowing the Sixers to whip the ball into an even cleaner look from distance. And Embiid still led Philadelphia in scoring with 26 points.
“He’s just seen it so much. I think if anything, the teammates around him have been able to eat off of him,” said Nets head coach Jacque Vaughn. “They have a bunch of shooters who can knock down shots. There’s just something you’re going to have to be able to give up going into a series, and you make adjustments along the way. But you can’t stop it all, for sure.”
The Sixers have found greater success with Embiid combating all that attention from his perch atop the key instead of grinding for position on the blocks.
“Putting him at the elbow where he can see it,” head coach Doc Rivers said.
Embiid didn’t know exactly where the help was coming from, but he knew it was coming. Philadelphia drilled for it throughout this past week of practice, with Rivers’ staff grading the team’s ball movement like umpires calling pitches behind home plate.
“Every pass was a ball or a strike,” Rivers said of his team’s drill work. “When you throw a lot of balls, you miss those shots. When you throw a lot of strikes, you make those shots.”
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