Embiid, sick again, struggles late in crucial Sixers loss

This was an opportunity lost for the 76ers. The Toronto Raptors weren't anything special. Kawhi Leonard finished with 39 points, but only eight of them came in the fourth—capped by an incredible three-pointer over the outstretched arm of an under the weather Joel Embiid. Everyone else on Toronto was either subpar or underwhelming. The Sixers could've very well gone back to Toronto with a 3-1 series lead. Instead, it's tied at two.

The Raptors stole Game 4 in South Philadelphia 101-96, as Embiid finished with only 11 points on two-for-seven from the floor. The Sixers went 7 minutes, 11 seconds in the fourth quarter without a field goal. 

JoJo Not Himself 

After the loss we learned the Embiid was as sick as he ever felt. He said couldn't sleep Saturday night and was throwing up, forcing him to take an I-V Sunday morning. The big guy texted Brett Brown at 6:20a.m. to let him know how sick he was. 

"I mean if you're throwing up and you can't really sleep and you need I-V, it had to be pretty bad," Embiid said in the locker room postgame, looking extremely under weather to the point where most doctors would likely recommend he be in bed with fluids by his bedside. "But, it doesn't matter. Once I step on the court, I got to do a better job." 

It seemed unusual when Embiid wasn't with the team when they took the floor for official pregame warmups. He also missed the anthems, exiting the locker room at approximately 3:28pm, with just under seven minutes flashing on the arena scoreboard. 

ESPN's Israel Gutierrez reported on the ABC telecast that Embiid was sneezing in the locker room before coming to the floor, which Brown confirmed was during a pregame film session. When Embiid was going through his brief official pregame warmup, he wasn't running much—if at all. Gutierrez described it as "groggy," which I would concur seemed fairly accurate from my press seat way up in the Wells Fargo Center rafters. 

Embiid wasn't on any injury report in the days leading up to the game, as well as the day of the game. The in arena injury report read by Matt Cord was spotless. 

"To his compete credit," Brown said. "He just kind of willed his way through it…As it sits, I appreciate and respect his effort to get out there and play for his team." 

In the first half, Embiid didn't look as fluid as he did in his dominate Game 3 performance. He wasn't able to drive to through the lane with ease, often had his hands on his knees and passed up a decent amount of three-pointers. That certainly wasn't the case three days prior. 

"I wasn't the same as two days ago," Embiid said. "Still got to be aggressive, especially offensively. I got to help my teammates better. Still on me." 

Like Brown, Jimmy Butler was sympathetic to Embiid's sickness, but Butler also echoed Embiid's thoughts that seven shots isn't enough—sick or not. 

"Two-for-seven, go two-for-20," Butler said. 

A couple things Embiid was doing particularly well were finding his teammates, which resulted in eight assists, and coming through with emphatic blocks on defense, one of which came while recovering deep in the paint. It was extremely impressive. 

Joel Embiid with the HUGE block --#PhilaUnite #NBASundays #NBAPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/iFMTsTeXA0

Joel with ANOTHER monstrous block --#PhilaUnite #NBASundays #NBAPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/Acsf3Kb5QF

Things got ugly though in the fourth quarter when Embiid missed three foul shots in a row and traveled after a questionable offensive foul on Marc Gasol that negated a Leonard bucket. Then, down one with just over a minute to go, Embiid made a strong spin move to the basket, but missed the healthy layup. Toronto would build the lead to six after that, in large part thanks to Leonard's incredible fadeaway three-pointer with 1:01 left in the game. 

Embiid simply wasn't himself, and I truly believe—despite how poorly the Raptors shot from distance—if Embiid was his usual self, the Sixers would've blown out Toronto. I think they're the better team with more depth and skill. And that's disregarding the fact the Sixers didn't shoot well either. 

Sixers Defense on Kawhi 

Leonard was the best player on the floor, which would've still been the case if Embiid was feeling better. 

He had 31 of his 39 points going to the fourth quarter, while Embiid had only eight. One superstar was scoring at will, while the other was struggling to stand upright during stoppages. 

Ben Simmons was predominantly on Leonard and probably did the best he could. He, Butler and the rest of the Sixers did a decent job getting Leonard to turn the ball over seven times, but the doing all they could motto wasn't enough for a victory.

This is a case where the Sixers should just respect how good Leonard is, do their best against him and stop everyone else. 

Simmons Too Selfless Again 

The level of aggression we saw from Simmons in the Brooklyn series isn't happening against the Raptors. 

As he showed in the previous games against Toronto, he's simply too selfless—passing up good looks when he gets in the paint. I'm not a mind reader, but it feels like he's looking to pass first before shoot, which—in fairness—is what a point guard should do. 

But, with Embiid under the weather, Simmons needed to step up offensively, and he didn't. 

"If you ask Ben, I told Ben every time down the floor to attack," Butler said. "Every single time. I'm cool with if coach calls a play and you feel like you got the mismatch, by all means attack. And then coach will be like, 'Why did you do it.' And I promise you I will say, 'I told him to do it.' 

"I want Ben to be as aggressive, just like I tell Jo to be aggressive. Attack. We not going to win without you guys. You have to be ready to attack it, any point in time. Damn sure in transition. He has the ball in transition, 'Ben, Ben, don't pass the ball in transition.' Attack every single time. That's how we're going to win this game." 

I asked Simmons about how he assessed his shot selection, and he said it was "ok." I followed up with  what he would've like to have done differently, and he said, "probably made shots." 

Simmons was five-for-10 for 10 points and a minus-16, which was worst amongst the Sixers starters. At least Embiid was a plus-17 even though he wasn't even close to his usual form. 

Playoff Jimmy 

While Embiid was clearly not himself, Butler was "Playoff Jimmy," doing his best to make up for Embiid's lack of production offensively. 

What a bucket --@JimmyButler #PhilaUnite | #HereTheyCome pic.twitter.com/UGZC3KhCht

Butler's efforts were exceptional, as he also rebounded and played decent defense, some of which was against Leonard. You can't ask more from him than 29 points and 11 rebounds. Others needed to step up. 

"We got humbled tonight," Butlers said. "I'm proud of it. Hopefully we go and do what we're supposed to do (in Game 5)." 

Tobi Cold As Ice

Tobias Harris and JJ Redick finished with solid point totals, but Harris' field goal percentage was pretty bad—seven-for-23 overall and two-for-13 from distance. A lot of Harris' looks were healthy ones too. His misses were critical. 

Kyle Lowry and Marc Gasol improved, but were nothing game changing. 

Pascal Siakam played, even though he was doubtful before the game with a calf contusion. He couldn't throw a rock into the ocean, and was left wide open on multiple occasion by Embiid. 

Serge Ibaka gave better contributions off the bench. 

Overall Takeaway

If Embiid isn't sick, this would've been a Sixers blowout.​