Philadelphia 76ers Defeat Oklahoma City Thunder 109-105 in Joel Embiid’s return

The Philadelphia 76ers overcame the Oklahoma City Thunder 109-105 as Philadelphia improved to 41-35 on the season, but remain 1.5 games behind the Miami Heat for 7th place in the Eastern Conference.

The 76ers were without Mo Bamba (illness), Robert Covington (knee), Tyrese Maxey (hip), and De’Anthony Melton (back). MVP candidate Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (quad) and Jalen Williams (ankle) were sidelined for the Thunder.

Joel Embiid made his return for 76ers

Joel Embiid made his long-awaited return and contributed 24 points, 7 assists (6 turnovers), 6 rebounds, and 3 steals. Embiid (6-14 shooting from the field) was notably rusty shooting the ball as he misfired on face-up shots against single coverage that he normally drains and settled for threes and shots over multiple defenders. 

Joel Embiid daps up Sixers legend Allen Iverson after the win 🤝pic.twitter.com/hNEWKOkLgk

— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) April 3, 2024

Embiid’s shooting numbers over these next few games won’t be pretty, but the 2023 MVP must knock off the rust and return to form as much as possible before the postseason.

However, Embiid did knock down a few pull-up shots from the elbow against Jaylin Williams showing glimpses of the dominant player he is. Although the shot wasn’t falling, Embiid did routinely draw contact facing up and attacking the basket as he shot 12/12 from the foul line.

As the game wore on, Embiid started to face more aggressive double and triple coverage and Embiid’s counters were not always the right choice. Embiid struggled to decide whether to make the pass to the weak side or impose his will. Embiid’s indecisiveness led to him turning the ball over in an attempt to pass out of doubles, but there were times when he nicely found Tobias Harris in the weak-side corner as Harris shot 5-8 from beyond the arc.  

Kelly Oubre Jr. gets hot at right time for 76ers

After a quiet first half where he scored just 4 points, Kelly Oubre Jr. tallied 21 points in the 2nd half and ended up leading all scorers with a total of 25 points, 6 rebounds on 8-16 shooting from the field along with 4-7 perimeter shooting.

Oubre caught fire in the closing minutes of the 3rd quarter where he splashed an array of spot-up perimeter shots assisted by Cam Payne (10 points and 5 assists). Oubre worked off the ball and came off pin-down screens to get clean looks from the perimeter that he cashed in on. 

Oubre got a variety of opportunities in the paint courtesy of Joel Embiid as Embiid set down-screens that Oubre curled off of and aggressively attacked the paint and back-cutted as Embiid drew multiple defenders around the baseline. It’s no coincidence that Oubre shot with solid efficiency in Embiid’s first game back. 

Kelly Oubre put up

17 PTS
6-7 FG
4-4 3P
+10

in just the 4th quarter tonight. pic.twitter.com/icjgeiCpFf

— StatMuse (@statmuse) April 3, 2024

Short-handed Thunder nearly got the better of 76ers

Without Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams, Oklahoma City’s offense lacked an advantage creator who could attack the paint and create for himself and his teammates. To make matters worse, Joel Embiid was playing a free safety role, sagging off of Jaylin Williams and helping on strong-side penetration.

The Thunder had to rely on their off-ball actions and perimeter shooting in general. Jaylin Williams (12 assists) was used in a Domantas Sabonis type of role where he facilitated from the elbow and initiated split-actions where shooters like Isaiah Joe and Kenrich Williams flew off flare screens and nailed threes. 

The 76ers, as a unit, struggled to navigate these off-ball screens and often over-helped on ball penetration as Chet Holmgren (22 points and 7 rebounds) and Aaron Wiggins (15 points) were forces within the arc. This enabled Oklahoma City to lead by as much as 13 points, but their shooting came and went as the Thunder shot 13-39 from the perimeter (33.3%).

The 76ers will face off against the Miami Heat in the 305 on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. EST on NBC Sports Philadelphia in a game that could ultimately determine where Philadelphia finishes in the Eastern Conference standings.

Mandatory Credit: (Photo by Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images)