Getty Joel Embiid, Sixers, blocks DeMar DeRozan in a Sixers win on Wednesday.
In the Sixers’ huge win over the NBA-leading Bulls on Wednesday night, Chicago star DeMar DeRozan was nearly unstoppable. He posted 37 points on 13-for-22 shooting and was 11-for-12 from the 3-point line, his third straight impressive performance. The one time, though, that he did prove stoppable was when he went head-to-head against Sixers big man Joel Embiid.
With the Bulls trailing by four points and eight seconds to go in the game, DeRozan drove past defender Georges Niang and attempted a layup. Embiid came across the lane, stretched and posted a block on DeRozan—and was whistled for a foul on the contact.
Embiid did not hesitate. He whirled his finger, signaling for the refs to go to the replay. They did, and the officials found that Embiid’s block was clean, reversing the call.
After a game in which he shot 6-for-18 from the field for 18 points, Embiid said he was glad to be able to pitch in when it mattered most.
“I mean you know one thing this year obviously the shots are not falling to start the year,” Embiid said. “You know I’ve been focusing a lot on the defensive end, and I feel like you know with the offensive end I’m nowhere close to what I should be. But with the defensive end I have been putting a lot of time in and that’s what I have been doing so I’m glad that block was not a foul, so you know big play to close off.”
Embiid to DeRozan: ‘I Got You, All Ball’
He says he was glad it was not called, but after the play, he sure did look confident. Despite his offensive struggles and even in the heat of the moment, Embiid maintained his fun-loving demeanor, trash-talking DeRozan a bit as the officials reviewed the play.
Video from the Chicago feed showed Embiid and DeRozan smiling at each other as Embiid clearly mouths, “I got you. All ball.”
Joel Embiid to DeMar DeRozan after he met him at the rim
“All Ball”
DeRozan did a dual press conference with Zach LaVine after the game and did not address the block, but LaVine did, noting that he felt the Bulls should not have put themselves into that position to begin with.
“It was ruled a foul on the court,” LaVine said. “Obviously, they saw something, there was enough to overturn it. I thought it was a great drive by him, they did not switch. We attacked Embiid looking to get the and-1. We can’t come down and hope for them to call that call, we have to come down and have a more substantial chance to win that game.”
Georges Niang Praises Embiid: ‘It’s Huge’
Of course, the guy who had the best view of the block was the one had the original coverage on DeRozan, Niang. He picked him up well beyond the 3-point line but seemed to get his feet tangled as DeRozan drove, leaving a—seemingly—open lane to the hoop, and setting up Embiid’s heroics.
“I don’t know if you saw, DeMar drove right past me so I had a good vantage point,” Niang said after the game.
He credited Embiid’s willingness to take a hard fall on the play for preserving the Sixers’ win. “I didn’t want to give up a 3,” Niang said, “so I tried to, you know, send him to the rim. I could have been a little closer, but you know, Joel is a competitor. I think it’s huge when your best player wants to win that bad and is willing to go up there and sacrifice a knee to the groin or an elbow to the face and make a winning play. That doesn’t happen everywhere and Joel is special for getting up there and making a winning play.”