Joel Embiid put on another amazing show on Wednesday night, dropping 33 points (which included several key buckets down the stretch) and 13 rebounds on 60% shooting. More importantly, it gave the 76ers a 3-0 lead over the Raptors.
Clearly feeling pretty good about his win, and his amazing game-winner, Embiid shared some words with hip-hip star and Raptors superfan Drake on his way to the locker room.
JOEL EMBIID WITH THE HUGE THREE IN OT 😱 pic.twitter.com/VKpdy4HszF
— ESPN (@espn) April 21, 2022
Embiid tells Drake he’s coming for SWEEP after win. 🤣🧹 (via @caro_line_em_up) https://t.co/rYNzAlENAW
— House of Highlights (@HoHighlights) April 21, 2022
It was a cool moment of confidence for the star big man. Of course, he does have some history with Toronto basketball.
Back in 2019, he led the 76ers to the Eastern Conference Finals. The series went 7 games and came down to a single shot from Kawhi Leonard that sent Philly home.
It was a devastating defeat for Embiid, who famously broke out in tears after the final buzzer. The Raptors won the Finals that year, with Drake there to cheer them on every step of the way.
So to be up 3-0 on them heading into Game 4 must feel good for the Sixers star, who says battling this team makes him a better player.
“The way they defend me has never changed,” Embiid said. “They just play recklessly, sending three guys on me as soon as the ball is in the air. Which, that made me better, honestly, over the years. Just playing against them and watching them, they definitely made me a better playmaker. I enjoy playing them. But there’s still a lot of ways I can attack them, it doesn’t have to be iso. I can just get deep position on them, use my size and my weight to try to take advantage of them. I think I know what I have to do, I just got to execute. It forces me to be a playmaker, and I think this year I did a really good job just beating guys and finding my teammates, making the right plays. Going into the series, I’ve played against them enough that I kind of know how they play. If that’s what they want to do, I already know the adjustment, and I’m just going to trust my teammates.”
The 76ers have known nothing but chaos this season. Amid turmoil on the Ben Simmons front, they struggled to win consistently without him in the lineup.
It fell on Embiid to carry them through it, and he did exactly that.
Now, with a pretty solid lead in Round 1, he isn’t afraid to let people know just how much he believes in his team to go all the way.
