Joel Did a 180? On Embiid's First Ever Signature Game-Winner

It was a big time for a big shot.

[photo: Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images]

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Sixers Record: 50-28, 4th in East

Man, were the echoes of last year's Celtics game eerie last night. Same sort of circumstances going in -- nearing the end of the season, in the midst of a hot streak, with one final chance to get a green-colored monkey off our backs before the playoffs. Same start to the game, with the Bucks taking control early on while our go-to guys struggled and the not-WFC crowd got good and lozenged up, ready to boo their little throats out the second this one looked like it was slipping out of control. But then, thankfully, same ending: The Joel Embiid-led Sixers fought their way back in the third and fourth, then made key plays on both ends to secure perhaps the most satisfying win of the Sixers season.

And as with the instantly iconic Jimmy Butler wing 20-footer from last year, the flashbulb moment from this was again a game-winning jumper: This time belonging to one Joel "Do a 180?" Embiid. And turns out Jeopardy! contestant Paul Trifeltti might've been more of a prophet than we realized last month, since that's essentially what JoJo did to secure this one, with the game tied and 15 seconds to go. He drew All-Star teammate Giannis Antetokounmpo on defense, backed him patiently from the high-post to the mid-post, spun around and fired that Dirk-like fadeaway he's pulled out sporadically since his rookie season. Swish. Shimmy. Pandemonium. Ballgame.

Well, not quite ballgame -- with two seconds still left on the clock, George Hill got a dangerously plausible look at a three for the win, after Tobias Harris inexplicably tried to jump the in-bounds pass and whiffed, leaving Hill with wide-open 30-footer that bounced around the rim (only twice, don't worry) and off. But history will remember the Embiid shot: to my recollection, his first pure game-winner in a Sixers uniform. He's made game-winning plays, he's hit game-winning free throws, and of course he helped save the Boston game (among many others) last year with a huge block on defense. But in terms of clock running out, give it to your best guy and have them do the damn thing game-winners, I'm pretty sure this was JoJo's official bar mitzvah. (Unsurprisingly, Joel claimed after the game to have shouted "KOBE!" before releasing the jumper, though after watching the replay approximately 57 times last night, I still cannot confirm.)

And nickname-validation aside, the turnaround jumper was an appropriate way for JoJo to ice this one. As he did in the Raptors game against Marc Gasol, JoJo declined to force the issue down low against the Bucks' paint-packing defense, content to fire away when given the opportunity for the perimeter. The showing in the first half wasn't always pretty, as Embiid began the game just 4-11 and went into the half having barely cracked double digits -- though at least he was instrumental in keeping Giannis grounded as well, with the presumptive back-to-back MVP starting 5-13 himself. But to his credit, he again stuck with it -- and in the third, Embiid began to find his groove, scoring eight points in a two-minute stretch near quarter's end. By the mid-fourth, his jumper was so wet that he pump-faked and drove on one possession and it actually worked, ending in him scooting around Marvin Williams for a reverse layup.

Of course, 34 points against a conference rival through a game's first 47 minutes is great and all, but it doesn't necessarily mean you're the right guy to take that final shot with the clock ticking down and Ersan Ilyasova making loud fart noises from the opposing sideline. JoJo hasn't really been that guy for us historically -- but you can tell that this stretch of play this past month, putting the team on his back without Ben Simmons and leading them to victory after victory, has really given him the confidence and the calm to execute at the highest level in such moments. Watching him fight for his inches, Miami Sharks-style, against Giannis on that final possession, biding his time until just the spot to flip his shoulders and fire away... he just seemed to know exactly what he wanted to do and exactly how he was going to get it done. The great ones usually do.

What would have happened if the Sixers never traded up for Markelle Fultz? We discuss the possible and most likely outcomes of the scenario that Derek Bodner wrote about in The Athletic. We give our memories of Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett, and Kobe Bryant as they're inducted into the Basketball Hall Of Fame.

But of course, we can't talk this much about the JoJo jumper without talking about the play that put him in position to take it. And once again, the day was saved, thanks to the Almighty Horf. I think we can all agree that Al Horford is not even a 15-minutes-a-night solution to guarding Giannis Antetokounmpo at this stage in their respective careers -- Big Al had about as much chance of corralling Giannis on the perimeter as a cat does of catching the dot from a laser pointer, and the Sixers were basically counting the seconds every time until they could get Jo back in. But give him one possession to try to outsmart Antetokounmpo and he'll always at least have a shot: Last night, he played far off on the MVP favorite most of the time when defending him, but on the last possession, he closed the gap a little, and when Giannis rose to shoot, Horf was already on top of him, swatting the ball on the way up. It was the kind of heady play that only a bald 33-year-old veteran tends to make, and it led to Embiid's now-signature game-winner.

You can probably guess which of the two plays Brett Brown was more excited to talk about after the game. "It was a career-defining moment for Joel -- obviously," Brett said, back to the horn-rimmed glasses and still sounding a little woozy from the game's dramatic swings (and/or the blindingly bright confetti blasts). "But to me, the play of the game was that block Al Horford had against their guy Giannis. I mean, we all know who that matchup favors at these points in their respective careers, but Horford was ready for him, and knew exactly how to bait him into doing what he wanted. Giannis is a hell of a player, by the way, I don't know if Al could get away with that one again. But the one time, we'll take it."

Anyway, for the folks counting at home, that's win 50 on the season for these oh-so-disastrous Philadelphia 76ers, as well as their fifth in a row and their 13th in 15 games. Miami stomped Indiana at home last night, which basically guarantees that the 4-5 matchup will be us and the Heat in some order, with the Sixers sitting one game up on Jimothy and crew with four games to go. They have games remaining against Boston and Toronto -- still duking it out for the two-seed -- while the Sixers do hit the road for a West Coast swing, but don't play any games against teams over .500 for the rest of the season. Next up: the Spurs in San Antonio, just days after SA clinched their first lottery-bound season in over 20 years. Maybe it's not too late for this entire season to [unreasonably confident but also fundamentally perplexed voice] do a 180?