Joel Embiid Delivers In Sixers Win Over Detroit

Saturday afternoon was just another chance for Joel Embiid to show that the Sixers have one of the most dominate players in the entire NBA.

Embiid dominated his way to 39 points with 17 rebounds, one assist, two blocks and one 3-pointer, causing all sorts of problems for Pistons defenders.

The big-mans fast start, scoring 32 first-half points, helped the Sixers stay undefeated (6-0) at home, and get revenge for an earlier 133-132 OT loss to the Pistons on Saturday.

"When you look at his first half stats, to me he was having a good game then I look at his numbers at halftime and you're like ‘wow,’" said Sixers head coahc Brett Brown.

Without Embiid’s dominate effort, his third straight of 30 points or more and his seventh such game this season, the Sixers might have been heading to Brooklyn headed with a bad loss to the Pistons.

Embiid is the first 76er since Hall of Famer Allen Iverson to score 30-or-more points in a first half and according to the Elias Sports Bureau, Embiid's 32 points are the most ever scored in a first half at The Center.

"I have to go back and look, but I thought I was pretty aggressive at the start of the game, which I didn’t expect because it was such an early game," Embiid stated.

"Going into the game I was kind of chilling or whatever, but just being aggressive. Dunking, a lot of dunking"

Embiid was responsible for 12 Pistons fouls, five each by Andre Drummond and Zaza Pachulia and two by Detroit's third center Jon Leuer.  Those fouls resulted in Embiid going 18-of-23 from the line,

"23 free throws – I think that’s my favorite stat out of all that. That is a mentality, that is a disposition," Brown said.

Three Sixers’ Takeaways:

-Shamet Steps Up: Rookie Landry Shamet scored 11 points with one rebound, one assist and two 3-pointers in 19 minutes against the Pistons on Saturday.  Shamet was a 2-of-5 from behind the arc. But it’s his ability to catch-and-shoot without thinking that has been most impressive, scoring in double figures the past two games, and coach Brown has taken notice, saying : "I'm running plays for a rookie."

-New Guys Helping: Saturday was the debut for Wilson Chandler, while Mike Muscala played just his seventh game as a Sixers.

Both played a role in the teams victory on Saturday.

Chandler was on a minute restriction, playing only 10 minutes, but still managed to grab four rebounds, one assist and one steal.

"He made some basketball plays," Brown explained. "If people saw his rebounds and how high he was or his skip pass when they started messing with Joel. I just think that physical presence is the thing I’m most attracted to with him. And then you start seeing him play basketball and made some basketball player plays, not just brute force type plays."

Muscala hit a couple of big three's late after starting out 0-6 from three-point range and was on the floor late in the fourth again over Dario Saric. Muscala ended the game with 14 points with four rebounds, one steal and two 3-pointers in 26 minutes.
-Home Sweet Home: The Sixers have now won 16 straight regular-season home games, the longest active home winning streak in the league. That’s nothing to turn your head out, even if the team has yet to win on the road this season. Taking care of business at home is a key, but not a given, but the Sixers have done a very nice job making the Center a real home court advantage. Now if they can get that first road win, they have a good shot Sunday night when they face Brooklyn.

Sixers analyst Marc Jackson on The Sports Bash talks about the teams early start to the season and what they need to improve.