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Tim BontempsESPN
Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid said his dominating performance was fueled by a 131-123 victory over the Utah Jazz on Wednesday night by playing against Rudy Gobert.
Embiid, who had 40 points – including the match three-pointer with 6.5 seconds left with 19 rebounds, three assists, a steal and two blocks in 40 minutes – told Jackie MacMullan, ESPN, in December that Gobert should not. was the All-NBA third team over him last season. He also repeatedly said he wanted to win the Defensive Player of the Year – an award that Gobert chooses to win this season – and he made an exception to local media people that he was afraid to play against the Jazz man, after he lost in Utah last month with a back injury.
“As we saw tonight, I seem to have been very, very scared of him,” Embiid said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. “So, yeah, keep talking.
“But standing up to him is one of my goals to also be the defensive player of the year. You know, if you act against such guys, he’s an excellent player, and you know, he does a lot for his team that does not appear on the state … but if you act against the guys, you know, it brings something different to my game.
“I want to dominate. Offensive, but mainly on the defensive side, because that’s the goal I set for myself at the beginning of the year … these are the games you want to go there and just dominate and prove to everyone that we as a team have a great team and that you have to be there separately when it comes to rankings and things like that. ‘
Embiid was the difference on both sides for Philadelphia. While the Jazz outscored the Sixers 63-24 at the 3-point line, Embiid continued his season-long parade to the foul line – he took 13 himself, while the Jazz took 19 as a team, one of several things that led has to Jazz star Donovan Mitchell being sacked and several players in Utah criticizing officials after the game. Embiid was also defensive everywhere, repeatedly breaking the lobbies at the edge of Gobert and stopping a Mitchell ride on a play to immediately bounce back and stop a Gobert dunk attempt.
But for Embiid, the lack of respect he received at the awards ceremony last season after the Sixers left the playoffs in the first round by the Boston Celtics was a source of motivation he talked about in public back then. after the preseason.
However, he specifically singled out Gobert as a source of frustration because he was selected as the third-team All-NBA center ahead of him.
“I agree that Anthony Davis had a better season than I did,” Embiid told MacMullan in December. “[Nikola] Jokic? It’s debatable. But Rudy Gobert? No offense, but he [averaged] 15 [points] and 13 [rebounds] and I had my 23 and 12, and that’s a big difference. I think my numbers were better. But people did not want to vote for me because our team did not do well.
“It’s OK because I’ll use it to motivate myself so there’s no way anyone can make the mistake again.”
When asked after Wednesday’s game if the guy played a role in his performance, he did not try to hide it.
“It’s reasonable,” Embiid said. “But what motivates me is to win the game. Without winning, you know, you’re not part of those conversations when it comes to Defensive Player of the Year and MVP and all that. That’s the first thing. I want to win That’s all I care about.
“The past is the past. It’s a shame how things happened last year when I was not there … it plays a big role in my mentality this year, and just wants to destroy everything in my path. I play against many “Good players every night. They’re really good at what they do. But wherever I need to defend the job, defensively and offensively, that’s what I have to do.”
Embiid, who kicks off Sunday’s All-Star game in Atlanta, has the best season of his career with 30.2 points, 11.6 rebounds and 3.3 assists. He is one of the leading candidates for the MVP award as Philadelphia enters the All-Star Break with a lead in the semifinals of the Brooklyn Nets for the best record in the Eastern Conference.
But after several matches recently, Embiid has repeatedly said he is more interested in winning the Defensive Player of the Year than MVP, but to be honest, he will not turn down the honor when it comes to his side.
And although Embiid said several times on Wednesday that teammate Ben Simmons also deserves to be in contention for the defense award – before the game, Sixers coach Doc Rivers said he believes Simmons should be ahead of Gobert for it – Embiid said that he is set on winning the honor because he has had it as a goal since joining the NBA.
“When I got into the league, I never thought I would be offensive,” Embiid said. “I always focused on the defensive side, and it has always been my goal to win it. It would be nice to do that, but like I said, it was my focus to get into the league, and obviously took over the score and the offensive side.
“I’m still going back to the same thing – you can’t be in those talks without winning. At the moment we’re winning, we’re first in the East, we beat the best team in the league. I has a bunch of good teammates who do a good job [Sixers teammate Tobias Harris], that’s why I preach to him to be an All Star, because you look at nights like tonight, he’s dominated in overtime. And you know, as a team we just all play well, we move the ball and defend ourselves well. ‘