Embiid Appetizer excites fanbase
If that is where the story ended, the city would still be curiously intrigued by the Philadelphia 76ers. But by no means would this tale approach the level of indomitability. Still, this is where the tale takes a very positive and noticeable twist.
When the Philadelphia 76ers stood at 9-25, rookie center Joel Embiid defied the NBA, the media, and the fans and dared to utter the words: “We’re a playoff team”. 99 times out of 100, those words would simply end up as fodder for trolls to reiterate for the remainder of the season. Remember that “Dream Team” fiasco for the Philadelphia Eagles? Yes, sorry I mentioned it.
But something happened with that claim. Something miraculously and mysteriously changed. The 9-25 Philadelphia 76ers began to win. The team which was 7-24 and 9-25 played 10-5 in the month of January 2017. Joel Embiid only played in nine games in that month, and would end the season at just 31 games played.
In just 31 professional NBA games, Joel Embiid averaged 20.2 points, 7.8 rebounds, 2.1 assists, 2.5 blocks, and 0.9 steals despite averaging just 25.4 minutes per game. Now, you can begin to assemble the reason Philly loves JoJo. He champions the team, and then leads them on the basketball court.