Joel Embiid passed Wilt Chamberlain in the Sixers’ record books Friday night.
Embiid had 35 points and 13 rebounds vs. the Pistons in 29 minutes, extending his streak of 30-point performances to 10 and his run of consecutive 30-and-10 games to nine.
The latter streak set a new Sixers franchise record, moving Embiid past Chamberlain.
The Sixers had no problems handling Detroit, earning a 124-92 victory at Wells Fargo Center. They’ve won five straight games and sit at 17-7.
The Pistons, who were down Jalen Duren, Monte Morris and Marvin Bagley III, fell to 2-23.
The Sixers will conclude their back-to-back with a road game Saturday night against the Hornets. Here are observations on their latest blowout victory:
Embiid’s customary first-quarter dozen
The Sixers started the night with one of their favorite game-opening actions. De’Anthony Melton made an Iverson cut, Nicolas Batum threw a high-low pass in to Embiid, and the star big man sunk a turnaround jumper over Isaiah Stewart.
However, Embiid’s level dipped a tad from the very lofty standard of his 30-point first half Wednesday night in Detroit. He committed three turnovers over the first few minutes, making sloppy mistakes like a double-dribble.
Tyrese Maxey drained an early three off of an Embiid post-up pass. It must’ve been nice for the 23-year-old to see a jumper go through the hole after his season-worst 2-for-13 shooting game in the opener of the Sixers-Pistons mini-series. He broke free for two fast-break layups in the next couple of minutes, too.
Inevitably, Embiid eased into a zone, drilling a flurry of mid-range jumpers. He’s often automatic around the nail; whether his shot’s contested or not sometimes looks irrelevant.
Embiid finished the first quarter with 12 points on 5-for-8 shooting and six rebounds.
The Sixers only led by four points after the first, though, largely because of a cold shooting start. Kelly Oubre Jr. air-balled a corner three long, Maxey’s pull-up attempt at the first-quarter buzzer thudded off the backcourt, and the team missed 9 of its first 10 three-point tries.
The Pistons, who came into Friday night with the NBA’s second-worst three-point percentage (33.8), began 1 for 11.
A nice turnover-forcing night
Detroit is much worse at exposing defensive miscues and vulnerabilities than the typical NBA team.
With that said, the Sixers had plenty of defensive moments Friday that would’ve been positive against any opponent. On one exemplary play, Melton guarded Jaden Ivey tightly, refused to let him use a ball screen, and ultimately poked the ball away. Embiid covered for Melton impressively in the second quarter, rotating over swiftly as soon as Bojan Bogdanovic slid past the Sixers’ guard and rejecting his layup.
Entering the game, the Sixers ranked second in the league in deflections per game and 15th in defensive turnover percentage, according to Cleaning the Glass. Sixers head coach Nick Nurse mentioned pregame that he was hopeful his team’s high deflection numbers would soon translate to better turnover-forcing performances. The Pistons had 21 giveaways Friday.
Beyond the statistics, the Sixers’ defense clearly frustrated the Pistons. Detroit generated few easy points and had almost nothing to feel good about all night. Tension and trash talk between Stewart and the Sixers eventually led to the officials assessing a technical foul to both Embiid and Stewart with 39 seconds left in the second quarter.
Embiid missed five field goals in a row after the first quarter, but he added frequent points at the foul line and took the Sixers into halftime with a very comfortable 22-point advantage.
Second half a true no-contest
Oubre had perhaps the most explosive play of the evening early in the second quarter when he drove in from the baseline and threw down a big dunk.
Marcus Morris Sr. was also sharp off the Sixers’ bench, knocking down a trio of second-quarter threes. The Sixers’ second-unit players were a tad passive at times, always seeking the “extra pass,” but they had several effective dribble weave possessions and created plenty of fruitful transition plays.
By the time Morris was back on the court in the second half, the Sixers held a 30-point lead and the Pistons seemed somewhere between extremely demoralized and completely apathetic. The game felt similar to a preseason contest by the middle of the third quarter.
Embiid wrapped up his night by nailing a three, blocking Ivey, and receiving an ovation from the home crowd as he subbed out for Paul Reed.
The fans also enjoyed a couple more triples from Morris, who shot 5 for 5 from three-point range overall and ended up with more long-range makes than the Pistons’ entire team.
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