Adrian Fedkiw
After missing his first free throw and the boos raining down on him from the Denver crowd, Joel Embiid calmly walked back to the foul line, sunk the go-ahead shot with 31.5 seconds on the clock, put his finger over his mouth and gestured for everyone to keep quiet.
And as the seconds ticked down, Embiid’s mannerisms of silencing the fans became more emphatic.
The Philadelphia 76ers had finally held onto a fourth-quarter lead on their four-game road trip and it certainly didn’t come easy. Embiid had 23 points, six rebounds, five assists three blocks and two steals as the Sixers held off the Nuggets 124-122 at Pepsi Center on Friday night.
The 7’2 Cameroonian, who was 5-of-13 from the floor and 12-of-14 from the charity stripe, blocked Nikola Jokic on Denver’s ensuing trip down the floor and knocked down two more freebies with 15.9 ticks on the clock to increase Philly’s margin to 120-117.
The margin reached 124-120 following two more Embiid free throws with 4.6 seconds to go and with a win seemingly in sight, the Sixers still didn’t make it easy on themselves. Embiid fouled Jokic on a 3-point attempt and he made the first two before intentionally missing the third. Gary Harris had a chance to tie it with a point-blank bank shot, but it was off the mark and Philadelphia finally walked off the court with the victory.
The Sixers led going into the final frame in each of their four games on the road trip against the Phoenix Suns, Sacramento Kings and Utah Jazz before collapsing over the last 12 minutes in those aforementioned contests. And even on Friday night, Denver put up 35 points in the fourth. This was a graphic from CSN of those fourth quarter woes when there was 31.5 seconds left.
Embiid talked about the win in a postgame interview with Molly Sullivan-French. He also mentioned that he’d like to become an All-Star so he could date his dream girl.
.@JoelEmbiid walk-off interview with @CSNPhilly's @MSullivanFrench.#NBAVote Joel Embiid pic.twitter.com/s7ue1TYxy1
— Philadelphia 76ers (@Sixers) December 31, 2016
And in case you don’t know what I’m talking about involving this girl …
There is my chance to finally be with my CRUSH so i need your help y'all ha….. Joel Embiid #NBAVote https://t.co/lzxoKq2n10
— Joel Embiid (@JoelEmbiid) December 29, 2016
So vote Joel!
After all the excitement he’s provided the city, the least we could do is vote him into the All-Star Game and help him get laid.