GET UP | “The monster is back” – Tim Legler reacts Joel Embiid 24 points, leads 76ers beat Thunder

GET UP | “The monster is back” – Tim Legler reacts Joel Embiid 24 points, leads 76ers beat Thunder

Louis and Allen are here is it Kimberly Martin and field Gates Wesley and university is well represented today all we need is LIN Manuel Miranda and we’re going to be off the charts oh plus cha gum is here on all the basketball the men’s and the women’s let’s go let’s

Start Allan with the game of the night last night the comeback of the night the return of the big man Joel embiid in the lineup for the first time since January 30th facing the Thunder no sheay gilis Alexander because whatever 8 minutes left in the first quarter Thunder up six

And beat on defense yeah and his presence alone in the paint makes such a difference for the Sixers defensively and defense turns to offense Tobias Harris had a big game too seemed like he loved having the big man back and be fatigued just four minutes in but doing

What he can and here he is watch him working his typical mid-range this is what he does but he also does this he lets you know how tired he is and look at the Donjoy right there offensive lineman where those type type of braces but clearly for the knee

12 first half points for embiid all right to the second half we go critical games for Philly this is Kelly UB he had a big night games leading score with 25 it’s a two-point game less than a minute later embiid free throw line yes tied at

101 now we’re a minute left Sixers down by one watch embiid working inside for the rebound plus the foul Allen exactly what he does too against the rebounding he gets the foul almost an n one falls down like he’s exhausted but this is what you expect he hasn’t played in

Several months over 50 games conditioning going to be a factor for him yeah but they made the foul shots anyway and then here he is on the defensive end and beid 24 points six rebounds seven assists in 29 minutes Sixers come back and they win IT 109 105

Here he comes Joel talk to me it took a a toll mentally uh you know I just want to come back I just want a come back you know I just I think we got a chance uh even you know the level that I’m at and I’m only going to get better

But you know this one was probably the hardest by far you know especially mentally okay so TR G up with us as well as Allan so Chan I’ve been I’ve been now we’ve seen one game of it I’ve been trying to get my mind around this since

We found out he was coming back what does a healthy Joel embiid which in theory let’s say two weeks from now we should have what does he make Philadelphia in the Eastern Conference Joel and beid returning is like when the school bully was out for a

Week from class and showed back up at school and all the students get nervous when he sits back in class and they’re like oh my gosh he’s back the Sixers they were down 11 with seven minutes left and still down when Joel embid checked himself back in now it was funny

To watch because my man was tired the guy was tired and playing through fatigue he naturally didn’t have that usual cardio and some of his initial first shots were front rim but when the game slows down and it goes possession by possession which the playoffs will be

Like he delivered now yesterday it was from the free throw line where he is a bully and a monster and it was also defensively where he was able to get stops so that Philly can run something that they really love to do those are his go-tos but once his stamina comes

Back all teams know that the 30 point 12 rebound double team demanding bully is back in the Eastern Conference and that changes the entire landscape well they win again last night with him in the lineup this year they have the second best record in the NBA behind only

Boston so let’s talk about the schedule the rest of the way Allen you were doing a little research he’s got a chance and they’ve got a chance to get red hot yeah and they actually might play their way out of the play in if they get hot

Because you look at the last six games of the season for them and they have the easiest remaining strength of schedule of any of the contenders in the East any of the teams that are playing for a playoff spot it’s real easy and when I say easy look at this what they have

Left are games that like you talking about the Pistons at home you’re talking about the Nets at home they go on the they play uh Memphis San Antonio’s been playing well but they’re still a team with a losing record their biggest game against Miami tomorrow night that’s their toughest one they’re battling them

Right now in the playin but if they get hot and he can play some minutes and by the way when you’re playing bad teams late in the season you know they’re not trying to win right you might not have to play him 30 minutes you might only

Have to play him a few minutes you can get him the rest that he needs so that he’s not extending himself before the postseason this sets up for the Sixers to get themselves in a really good position in the postseason again he played 29 minutes last night in ch I was

Talking with legler about this yesterday the delicious first round matchup that we could get would be the Sixers against doc right I excuse me the the the Sixers yes the Sixers against Doc in Milwaukee if if he plays his way they get one win the 78 game they win that into the two

Matchup and they wind up getting Doc Rivers how about that match up in the first round look Milwaukee is so mysterious to me and in not such a good way because what I see when it comes to the Bucs Giannis can have 35 and 15 but they can

Still lose mind you Dame in and out of the lineup but they still remain number two in the standings in the East the Sixers when you think about these story lines yes that is going to be delicious and they’re going to be a bad matchup for anybody because the Bucks issue has

Consistently been perimeter defense did you see the result to the game last night versus the Wizards and then also transition defense kills them so if you go up against a Sixers team that Tyrese Max did not play yesterday but he kills you in transition def uh transition

Offense then you’ve got Joel and beback you’re looking at Dynamics where it almost feels like it could potentially be a coin flip absolutely which would be a fascinating first round and scary time for Doc Rivers for sure Allan CH stay close by much more on the Hoops as we go

In points 10 assist but embiid comes back he has 24 points seven assists six rebounds and to the point CC of what they potentially can still do here if you look at this Eastern Conference Philadelphia is in the eighth spot right now with 35 total losses okay but

Cleveland’s in the three spot with 30 losses so there is room to be had here like it is not crazy to think that Philadelphia with embiid back now could get out of the play in all together right like I think that when you look at all of this there is like the Eastern

Conference specifically may be flipped upside down because Miami is with 33 losses Philly’s with 35 and ahead of them Indiana with 33 the Knicks with 31 banged up Orlando with 31 Cleveland with 30 banged up not playing well I think the only thing you definitely know is

That in this spot Boston’s going to be one Milwaukee’s going to be two I don’t know that you’re afraid of either one of those teams especially Milwaukee after they lost last night to Washington terrible for them but I think the Eastern Conference in the next couple in

The NBA could be flips upside down it’s not crazy to think no it’s not crazy to think and here’s the thing f i i mean if you’re a Sixers fan you’re looking at it and saying if he’s healthy we got the best player in the Eastern Conference

Playoff field quite literally Jo lmb was the MVP last year and he picked up where he left off at the beginning of this year he was averaging 35 and 11 and so I I think it’s a it’s a stretch to assume that he’s going to have that kind of

Dominance once we get into the playoffs especially early on cuz he’s still trying to get his legs under him try to get his win back but I mean you have the potential by the time we get to the second series or even the Conference Finals of having the best player on the

Court regardless of who your opponent is I mean if that ends up being the case how could you not feel good about Philly’s chances of going on a deep playoff run especially if they can avoid the Boston Celtics in round one yeah you have to put that mentality forward

Because the 76ers 27 and8 this season wi embiid plays they’re 14 and 27 when he does it obviously a huge disparity so I wouldn’t be surprised to see them go on a bit of a run and in years past Joel embiid has been banged up at this time

Of the year we talked about this yesterday with with I believe Tim legler imagine if you get a fresh embiid for the playoffs that’s something Philadelphia hasn’t had in quite some time and why wouldn’t we expect them to be a force if that’s the case yeah it

Reminds me of the Lakers in the bubble in 2020 right we LeBron James and Anthony Davis had a three-month Hiatus because of covid and and trying to figure out what the bubble situation was going to be but once they came back it was clear that the Lakers were going to win the

Championship because you had a fresh LeBron and you had a fresh ad and those guys are never fresh this time of year and what has been what has plagued Philadelphia in the postseason in years past it’s embiid having some type of injury once we get to the playoffs

Whether it’s a knee whether it’s an ankle it’s something that ails him we saw it in the series in the conference sings last year against the Boston Celtics he he he was banged up he had a bit of a knee injury so I guess if he’s

Past that if he is healthy and this guy has a chance to build up to ramp up I mean once we get to the conference semis this year you’re talking about a Sixers team that nobody wants to see because of Joel’s ID’s impact not only on the

Offensive end but what he does for that team defensively I mean last night down the stretch he had a critical steal that led to a pair of free throws for him on the other end like this guy can do it all from Rim protection to altering

Shots to you know to making sure that everybody else can be more aggressive with their perimeter defense just because you know you got a backline of defense and a guy that was in the conversation for or would have been in the conversation for Defensive Player of

The Year based on how he started so yeah I’m bullish on the Philadelphia 76ers I I I also have to acknowledge that they have a really good coach in Nick nurse which is a key difference in this team in comparison to teams in the past I

Mean EV I mean you could you could argue that Nick nurse is the second best coach in the Eastern Conference right now I think that’s a legitimate conversation that’s how good Nick nurse can be as a head coach especially when it comes to dialing up the x’s and no’s on the

Offensive end so yeah the what we saw last night in the 30 minutes that embiid played how he impacted the game even though he was out of shape I mean yeah I’m bullish on what the Sixers can be once we get to the playoffs I’m looking up and down the Eastern Conference I

Believe that there are three coaches in the Eastern Conference uh four coaches excuse me in the Eastern Conference that have have won titles in the NBA Eric spola right Doc Rivers um Nick nurse and Rick Carlile right those are the four if I’m unless I’m missing someone here in the Eastern

Conference Rick carlile’s team in Indiana overachieved this year you’re not picking them to go to the finals no Doc Rivers team you may pick to go to the finals Eric spoler team in Miami you have to really assume they’re going to go on some crazy run which you know to

Which we’ve seen before and same thing with Nick Nur yeah you can make that argument nurse is an upgrade from what they’ve had in years past which leads me right into what they had in years past with Doc Rivers and the Milwaukee Bucks they lose last night to the Washington

Wizards and Doc Rivers post game did not hold back I’ve actually been sitting back and watching everything uh not just our players but our travel crew everything uh and I’ve made a lot of notes I will say that I won’t share that um but we don’t bring the necessary um professionalism seriousness

On the road um and and that’s something that we can fix um that’s something we’re going to have to fix okay that’s interesting what the heck does that mean like the pilots aren’t good like what are we talking about here the the professionalism on the road I that is a

Scathing indictment on your locker room like you are throwing shade at all of the team leaders whether it’s Damen Lillard or Giannis or Brook Lopez or or Bobby Porter you’re throwing shade at all of those dudes you’re saying you don’t take the road trip seriously and you don’t have the requisite sense of

Urgency that it takes in order to compete and win championships based on how you k for the hunger is real watch my hor Finger Licking Good go oh literate get in my belly CR my hor Annihilation get over here out of my way B Rush J h come closer Finger Licking Good charge

Kge my way a your tower has defeat n

GET UP | “The monster is back” – Tim Legler reacts Joel Embiid 24 points, leads 76ers beat Thunder