Philadelphia 76ers former MVP center Joel Embiid was benched on Saturday.
He sat out the entire final quarter of the Sixers’ latest blunder, a Saturday 105-103 loss to the Brooklyn Nets on a buzzer-beater put-back from center Nic Claxton.
Following the loss, Philadelphia head coach Nick Nurse said Embiid is “not himself.”
“He’s not certainly the guy we’re used to seeing play at a super high level. But I commend him for giving us what he can,” Nurse added.
Explaining the benching, Nurse said, “That group was just playing so well together and had a good feel for the game at that point and just wanted to let them roll with it.”
Philadelphia trailed by double figures at halftime and later by 17 points before forcing a tie with seconds remaining.
However, the close loss meant Philly dropped their seventh straight contest.
Embiid, who finished with just 14 points, seven rebounds and five assists against Brooklyn, shot 4-for-13 from the field and missed all six of his 3-point attempts.
Embiid has recently lent voice to him not being in his truest form, most notably after the Sixers 124-104 loss at home to the Boston Celtics on Thursday, their first game following the All-Star break.
“The way I was playing a year ago is not the way I’m playing right now,” said the 2023 MVP last week. “I probably need to fix the problem, and then I’ll be back at that level.”
The loss dropped the Sixers to 20-36 this season as the now sit 12th in the Eastern Conference.
As of now, they’re 1.5 games out of the play-in tournament, and a game behind the Nets, who defeated them this weekend.
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