76ers vs. Blazers: Joel Embiid notches new season-high in blowout win

12/31/2024 12:44 AM

The Philadelphia 76ers (13-17) got their first look of the season at the Portland Trail Blazers (11-21) in the latest stop of their road trip. After the Sixers’ narrow victory over the Utah Jazz, they blew the Blazers out of the water, 125-103.

The start of this game was a mess. The Blazers called a challenge 36 seconds into the game and the first two minutes of the game featured four turnovers. That messiness bled into the game, though the Sixers didn't let the rough waters tip them overboard. They commanded this game for the last three quarters, securing their largest margin of victory so far this season.

Embiid dominates Ayton again

Joel Embiid came into this game just as he did last game — listed as questionable with a left foot sprain and a sinus fracture — but he remained in the starting lineup. The matchup between him and Deandre Ayton was the main one to watch. It went about as you expected.

Embiid really got to work on Ayton in the second quarter, shooting fadeaway and spinning into a bucket on the other side of the paint on consecutive possessions on his way to 14 points in the period. The Blazers went to a two-center lineup with Ayton and Robert Williams III, who once helped slow Embiid down in jumbo lineups with the Boston Celtics. Timelord made it harder to score in the paint and even blocked one of Embiid’s shot attempts.

The second half didn't feature any Ayton-Williams lineups. Confusingly, Portland deployed Williams and Donovan Clingan together when Embiid went to the bench. Even if a two-big lineup against Embiid was doomed to fail, so were single-big lineups. It seemed worth a shot but Chauncey Billups and his staff disagreed.

Oddly, Embiid couldn't get his shots to fall on his jumpers right of the right elbow. He was absolute cash money from any location left of that spot. Whether he was dominating Ayton or attacking whoever had him in the Blazers’ zone defense, he controlled the tempo and got bucket after bucket.

Philadelphia has started to win at the rate they were expected to. Embiid knows how good the 76ers can be — and what he can do to get them to that level. His final stat line: a season-high 37 points, nine rebounds, three assists on 12-21 shooting. Ayton shot 6-8 from the field but only tallied 12 points and six boards.

The battle on the boards

One of the few areas where the Trail Blazers are legitimately good is on the offensive glass; they rank sixth in offensive rebound percentage. Their big men crash the glass hard and all of their wings (minus the injured Grant) are above-average in that area, too.

The Blazers’ pursuit of extra possessions showed early on. They had 5 offensive boards by the time Embiid checked out and their best offensive rebounder, Clingan, checked in (at the 3:39 mark). Portland didn't totally wipe the glass with Philly during that stretch but the script didn't exactly change, either.

That rebounding allowed the Blazers to overcome the deficiency in talent. Once the Sixers shut their water off, it was much smoother sailing. Philly’s effort in winning the possession battle appeared in the steal column — and one particular Sixer had a knack for forcing turnovers.

Kelly Oubre Jr. did a good job denying Ayton in the post early on, which led to two early takeaways. Deni Avdija threw both passes and committed two more turnovers in the first few minutes. Oubre recorded a new career-high early in the third quarter, forcing Avdija into his eighth turnover of the game. He finished with eight steals while the Blazers committed a whopping 26 turnovers in total.

The Blazers stayed an arm’s length away from cutting their deficit to single digits because they got back to rebounding their misses to begin the second half. Then the Sixers took it away from them and they went on to win comfortably. Portland’s awful three-point shooting gave it more chances to collect rebounds but also meant they had less margin for error on those second possessions.

Yabusele stays solid

It’s time to petition Basketball Reference to include "The Dunking Bear" as a nickname for Guerschon Yabusele. His poster slam on Avdija spawned so much excitement from the bench that Kyle Lowry drew a technical foul in street clothes.

YABUSELE RISES UP FOR THE POSTER pic.twitter.com/D61zdXu0H2

— NBA (@NBA) December 31, 2024

Yabusele’s latest big dunk was part of a 13-0 run that went on to become a 20-5 run in the second quarter. Just like in Utah, the Sixers turned the heat up in the second quarter, proving that they were a clear-cut above their opponents. But instead of coming out and playing horribly, they played a more regular brand of bad, still leading despite poor defense.

Yabusele had 15 points on 6-9 shooting in 13 first-half minutes. The Sixers needed someone to ball out because one of their stars put themselves in trouble.

Paul George picked up three fouls in the first quarter. Nick Nurse trusted him to stay out of further trouble but he still found himself halfway to a disqualification. The Sixers resorted to a lineup without any stars to end the first quarter, though they maintained a narrow lead after the first 12 minutes.

Since Embiid, Maxey and Yabusele were rolling and Oubre continued to create chaos on defense (while shooting very efficiently on shots inside the arc), George didn't have to play at all in the second quarter. He picked up two more fouls in the third quarter, failing to push his total in any stat higher than his foul count (save for his field-goal attempts, which exceeded it by one) until the fourth quarter. Fortunately, they didn't need anything more to win this one comfortably.

The 76ers will usher in 2025 with a matchup against the Sacramento Kings in the first game of a back-to-back.

The post 76ers vs. Blazers: Joel Embiid notches new season-high in blowout win appeared first on ClutchPoints.