'Welcome back': 76ers star dazzles in 'unreal' comeback
Philadelphia star Joel Embiid marked his long-awaited return from injury with an extraordinary performance that has lit up the internet.
Embiid has been on the NBA sidelines for almost a month but he showed no signs of rust in a commanding display as the 76ers beat the Indiana Pacers 106-89.
The big centre scored 33 points and grabbed 12 rebounds in his comeback game to lead the scoring for the 76ers.
The Philadelphia superstar pulled off several show-stopping plays in the huge win, but perhaps none more spectacular than his three-point play in the fourth quarter.
Embiid bamboozled the Pacers defence with a cheeky fake, before driving to the rim, drawing a foul and sinking a superb shot off the glass.
The big play and Embiid’s seamless return to the 76ers fold left fans in a spin on social media.
🔔 @JoelEmbiid goes for 33 PTS, 12 REB, guiding the @sixers to victory in his return to the floor! #HereTheyCome pic.twitter.com/CEBaUSAzfN
— NBA (@NBA) March 10, 2019
After missing last eight games, Joel Embiid registers 33pts, 12rebs in his first game back. My goodness.
— Jon Johnson (@jonjohnsonwip) March 10, 2019
Embiid is ridiculous. What a performance in a must-win game after a long layoff. Unreal.
— Reuben Frank (@RoobNBCS) March 10, 2019
33 PTS | 52.4 FG% | 12 REB | 28 MIN@JoelEmbiid is back. #HereTheyCome pic.twitter.com/ARqdFxeL24
— Philadelphia 76ers (@sixers) March 10, 2019
"I'm back," Joel Embiid yells to the crowd after that absurd three-point play.
— Rich Hofmann (@rich_hofmann) March 10, 2019
The way the Sixers looked the past couple of weeks, and the way they looked today, had to have earned Joel Embiid a few more MVP votes.
— Dan Devine (@YourManDevine) March 10, 2019
Embiid's up to 33 points on 11-21 shooting, with 12 rebounds and 2 steals, in 28 minutes after missing nearly a month.
— Derek Bodner (@DerekBodnerNBA) March 10, 2019
Show me another 7-footer besides Embiid who can do this. (Giannis isn’t really a 7-footer, right) pic.twitter.com/YDjfq0c6Jw
— Andrew Perloff (@andrewperloff) March 10, 2019
Embiid returned to the line-up, after being sidelined by a sore left knee, and his league-best 49th double-double helped the Sixers move into third place in the eastern conference, at Indiana’s expense.
Tobias Harris added 16 points and Ben Simmons had 15 points.
The Sixers went 4-4 without the All-Star centre as they battle for a top-four seed.
Bojan Bogdanovic led the Pacers with 18 points.
The Sixers were soundly booed off the court by 20,000 home fans as they trudged into a timeout down 14 points in the second quarter but led by Embiid they hit back to outscore the Pacers 55-30 after the long break.
Indiana missed 17 of 20 shots in the third quarter and scored only 11 points to fall behind 72-70 after holding a 14-point lead.
Kyle Lowry had 24 points and 10 assists while Pascal Siakam scored 20 as the Toronto Raptors tied a franchise record with 21 3-pointers in a 125-104 rout of the Miami Heat.
The Raptors finished with eight players in double figures as they consolidated the second-best record in the NBA.
Danny Green scored 15 points, all on 3-pointers. Norman Powell also scored 15, and OG Anunoby and Jeremy Lin each scored 11.
Toronto’s only other game with 21 3s was against Philadelphia in 2005.
Bam Adebayo scored 19 for the Heat, who had won four in a row, to sit in eights place in the east.
Blake Griffin scored 17 of his 28 points in the third quarter to lead the Detroit Pistons to a 131-108 defeat of the Chicago Bulls.
Detroit have won five in a row and 12 of 14 to take a half-game lead over the Brooklyn Nets for the sixth seed in the east.
With AAP