PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Joel Embiid had one of his worst NBA career games Monday night and, arguably, his worst performance this postseason, losing 103-100 in Game 4 against the Atlanta Hawks. Embiid finished a dismal 4-for-20 from the field, including 0-12 in the second half.
And yet — if only for a moment at the end of his postgame press conference — he found some joy.
"Oh my God," Embiid said, interrupting an explanation of his poor performance, after watching Los Angeles Clippers superstar Kawhi Leonard posterize Utah Jazz big man Derrick Favors on a monitor off-screen.
With a smile, he turned to someone near him off-camera: "See that dunk? Did you see that Kawhi dunk? Man. Wow."
Embiid's amazement is understandable. Leonard's dunk was sick. And even in answering a question about whether the Hawks realized he wasn't quite himself Monday night, he couldn't help but drift back toward the topic of "that Kawhi dunk."
"If I'm not dominating, especially defensively, it's easy to tell," he said. "So, I'm sure they saw it, but — yeah — that Kawhi dunk was crazy."
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Particularly notable about this situation is that Embiid openly admired Leonard's dunk despite being on the other side of one of the most famous highlights of the Clippers star: the buzzer beater from Game 7 of the Sixers-Raptors second-round series two seasons ago, when Leonard's shot bounced on the rim four times before going in.