PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) -- Imagine if fans had been allowed in Wells Fargo Center on Wednesday night, when Joel Embiid and the 76ers rallied to beat the NBA-best Utah Jazz 131-123. A socially distanced crowd of 3,000 would have sounded like 30,000.
Embiid hit a fade-away three-pointer with 6.5 seconds left, tying the score at 118. Utah guard Mike Conley had a chance to win the game at the regulation buzzer, but his foul line floater rimmed out.
Tobias Harris took over in overtime, scoring 11 of the Sixers' 13 points. They won, despite the Jazz making 21 three-pointers to the 76ers eight. Embiid finished with 40 points on 14 of 27 from the floor, while grabbing 19 rebounds with three assists, two blocks and one steal.
Embiid added to his MVP-résumé while up against two-time Defensive Player of the Year and fellow center and All-Star Rudy Gobert.
"Those are the matchups that you wanna go out and just dominate," Embiid said postgame.
Embiid missed the previous matchup against the Jazz on Feb. 15 in Utah because of back tightness. On Wednesday night, when Embiid was asked about his performance against Gobert, he called out a couple of Philly sports journalists he seemed to think were making speculations about his missing games against elite centers.
“According to him I’m scared of him and I’m scared of top centers. So as we saw tonight, it looks like I was very, very scared of him,” Embiid said sarcastically. “So yeah, keep talking.”
While a lot of people are putting Embiid in the MVP conversation at this point in the season, it sounds like he's going for a different individual accolade.
"One of my goals is also to be Defensive Player of the Year," he said. "When you go against those guys, it brings something else to my game. I wanna dominate on the offensive end, but mainly on the defensive end, because that’s the goal I set for myself at the beginning of the year ...."
Rivers also pointed out Ben Simmons should be considered for the award, too.
Embiid reiterated Wednesday night that individual recognition will come with team success. So far, so good. The Sixers head into the All-Star break with a slim half-game lead for first place in the East over the Brooklyn Nets. Last season, Embiid was left off of the All-NBA teams. It’s fairly evident he’s using that as part of his motivation and mentality for this season.
"Just wanting to destroy everything in my path."
Utah’s All-Stars rant about officiating
While the Jazz were dynamite from three-point distance for most of the game, the Sixers won the battle of free throws — going 27 of 35 from the foul line (Embiid was 10 of 13), while the Jazz were 14 of 19 as a team. Utah committed 24 personal fouls to the Sixers' 17.
It got to the point that Utah All-Star Donovan Mitchell was so frustrated by the officiating that he was ejected with 30.8 seconds left in overtime for arguing with the refs, picking up his second technical foul.
Embiid — to the delight of social media — acted like a referee for Mitchell’s first “T.”
Mitchell knocked over a water cooler as made his exit, possibly hitting a staff member with it. Mitchell put his hand on the man's shoulder to make sure he was ok.
In his postgame press conference, he was less careful. He let loose on the refs -- not just for this game, but for what he sees as a trend the 27-9 Jazz have experienced this season.
Mitchell wasn’t the only one to sound off. Gobert did as well, at greater length.
Gobert suggested that Utah doesn’t get the same types of calls that other teams get because they’re from a smaller market. He said he felt disrespected by the league’s officiating Wednesday night.
Fouls aside, there was one controversial play late in the fourth quarter that could have helped Utah hold on to beat the Sixers if it had gone another way. Leading by 3, with less than a minute to go, Utah’s Royce O’Neale stole a pass and appeared to save the ball from going out of bounds. However, the referees blew the whistle, calling te ball for the Sixers.
After the replay view, clearly showing O’Neale staying within bounds, the refs kept the call, because when O’Neale initially stole the ball, it apparently hit an official on the sideline.
Jason Phillips, vice president of replay operations, explained further to The Inquirer’s Keith Pompey.
It will be interesting to see what the NBA’s Last Two Minute Report has to say about that sequence, if anything.
Either way — with Embiid’s performance, and all the in-game and postgame drama — if these two teams meet again in the NBA Finals, it will be a matchup many basketball fans will enjoy.