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Joel Embiid is easily the most important player on the Philadelphia 76ers, and it showed in the team’s Game 6 victory over the Toronto Raptors.
After a brutal drubbing in Game 5, the Sixers were left to lick their wounds heading into a win-or-go-home Game 6. They could either live up to the moment at home and force a Game 7 or get waxed again and go fishing.
The team opted for the former and jumped out to a huge 24-point lead in the game before finally winning by a final margin of 112-101. Though all five starters for Philly scored in double digits, led by Jimmy Butler’s 25 and Ben Simmons’ 21, the most important player on the floor at any given time for the 76ers was, not unexpectedly, big man Joel Embiid.
Though Embiid was held scoreless until the second quarter, he finished the game with a hugely impactful stat line of 17 points, 12 rebounds, 2 blocks, 1 steal and 1 assist (plus a ludicrous flagrant foul which might be rescinded) in 35 minutes played.
In the 35 minutes Embiid was on the floor, he had a plus-minus rating of +40, which means that the 76ers outscored the Raptors by an incredible 40 points with Embiid patrolling the paint.
The only other player who achieved a plus-minus rating remotely close to that was Mike Scott, who was a +29 in 20 minutes.
Game 7 will take place on Sunday night at 7 p.m. Eastern time for a chance at the Eastern Conference Finals, and a date with the mighty Milwaukee Bucks.
