Embiid once again established position with his back to the basket in the low post, then continued trying to overpower Harten.
He dribbled into a half-turn, forcefully bumped inward, then spun again and stepped back toward the perimeter. Gathering the ball, he gave a pump fake, got Harten off balance, and then naturally rubbed the ball against him.
Big Butt then got his wish and returned to the free-throw line.
What had long been hidden beneath the "brilliance" of players like Harden and SGA was Embiid's equally exquisite ability to draw fouls.
In fact, because he was usually matched up against interior defenders, Big Butt's foul-drawing difficulty and lethality might have been even greater than those two...
At the free-throw line, he calmly made both shots.
Embiid successfully scored his sixth point of the night.
Six points in the first three minutes—wouldn't he end up with 96 for the game?!!
After Embiid took his second free throw, the Knicks pushed the counterattack again.
They chose the same old approach on this end as well.
Hart brought the ball up to the Top of the Key. Chen Xi came off a screen from the wing to receive the pass at the Top of the Key, then observed the opposing defense.
Sure enough, the Philadelphia 76ers finally switched.
The man in front of Chen Xi changed from Melton to Oubre.
Melton was actually quite useful, especially when assigned to defend smaller guards. His defense was absolutely above league average.
But the problem was that the player he faced tonight was simply beyond his level.
In truth, using him to guard Chen Xi in the first place had been a huge failure by the coaching staff~~
Fortunately, it was not completely too late to make a change now...
Chen Xi held the ball