The buzz around Philadelphia several days before the 76ers’ season-opener against the Washington Wizards last night centered on Joel Embiid and a clock. Specifically, how many minutes would Embiid get (in the teens, perhaps?) and his reaction to the notion he’d be brought along slowly to open 2017-18.
Despite the Sixers logging a loss last night, both Embiid and the team seem to be happy with the amount of playing time he got in that first game. Jessica Camerato of NBCSportsPhiladelphia.com has more:
After days of frustration leading up to opening night, Embiid played just three seconds shy of 27 minutes against the Wizards. That far surpassed the 16 minutes he anticipated a day earlier on Tuesday.
“I was surprised,” Embiid said following the Sixers’ 120-115 loss on Wednesday night. “I was expecting way less than that, but it just shows you they trust me.”
Brett Brown had maintained Embiid’s minutes were going to be more flexible than last year and he wasn’t locked into a specific number by the medical staff. Initially, Brown projected Embiid would play somewhere in the teens, but the game presented an opportunity for him to log more.
Embiid had played 21:38 through three quarters and it seemed, based on last season, he was done for the night. The coaching staff calculated Embiid had over 20 minutes to rest between the third and the fourth quarters, so Brown put him back into the game with just over five minutes to play. He finished the game with 18 points, 13 rebounds, three assists, a block and four turnovers.
“It’s a range,” Brown said. “It’s more of a plan that we have this year than a restriction. When you look at and you feel the flow of the game, that’s where the variables come in.”
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“It’s on me to not lie to them and tell them how my body feels when I’m tired,” Embiid said. “At some point through the game I was tired and I told them to take me out.”
Embiid is ready for a new outlook on his availability moving forward.
“We’ve got to stop calling it ‘minutes restrictions,'” Embiid said. “There’s a plan with that — it’s just go out and play. If you’re tired, get out because injuries happen more often when you’re tired.”
