76ers

Welcome to "One Play!" Throughout the 2021-22 NBA season, our TSN Staff will break down certain possessions from certain games and peel back the curtains to ...

You know how I mentioned that Embiid isn't a big-time lob threat? It starts with Harden being a dynamic scorer out of the pick-and-roll. If his defender, who is usually the biggest and strongest player on the opposing team, can't simply drop, it opens the door for him to get the ball at the free throw line or lower against players who have no business defending him, like a 6-foot-4 and 193-pound point guard. There aren't many players scoring as much as Embiid as the roll man this season, but he picks and pops more than he picks and rolls. “You should’ve seen my face every single time, especially in the fourth,” Embiid said after the game. Why it matters: As I wrote when the trade went through, Harden has never really played with a center like Embiid before. That was probably the most wide open I’ve ever been in my career. He ranks around league average in efficiency this season, but history says he's one of the league's best scorers out of the pick-and-roll. ( According to InStat, Embiid has generated 12.6 percent of his offense in pick-and-pops compared to 3.4 percent in pick-and-rolls. Harden delivers a pass to Embiid on the money, setting him up for a bucket and the foul. That leaves Embiid unguarded for a split-second, and he slowly rolls to the basket. Both Harden and Embiid brought their A-game against the Timberwolves, but there was one particular possession in the first half that stood out for a number of reasons.

James Harden had just hit a stepback 3-pointer while being fouled, a move seen countless times from the 10-time All-Star and 2018 MVP. Joel Embiid, his new ...

Seriously, the passing, like I wasn’t even expecting it and it was just coming.” He was 7-of-8 shooting on free throws and had 10 points and six rebounds in the quarter. Minnesota, coming off a 119-114 win over Memphis a night earlier, got to 51-48 late in the second quarter. Embiid, who had 21 free throws in a double-overtime loss to Minnesota in November, was 11 of 13 from the line. “We’ve got guys, from top to bottom, that it feels that way on the court. The results were promising, particularly where Embiid and Harden thrive — at the free-throw line.

While Paul Millsap still has a place on the Philadelphia 76ers as a situational defender, he's a really poor fit next to James Harden as a backup center.

And as for Reed? Well, he was an athletic menace at both ends of the court and picked up four rebounds, three points, and a pair of steals in a little over 15 minutes of action. While those minutes didn’t look particularly good from a plus-minus perspective, largely because the Boston Celtics were in the middle of the best game of his life, his pairing alongside Philly’s other Paul, BBall Paul Reed, was incredibly encouraging. Doc Rivers actually staggered his the minutes of his “Big 4,” with either Harden or Embiid on the court for almost the entire game, Tobias Harris accepted an adjusted role as a catch and shoot specialist who only posted up a handful of times.

While some will quibble with how often the Philadelphia 76ers' two best players head to the charity stripe, it's not on Joel Embiid or James Harden.

If the NBA wants to make it even harder to draw fouls next season than they did this season, that’s one thing, but for now, the Philadelphia 76ers’ two best players are going to do their thing and put major points on the board, even if a healthy percentage of them come not from the field but from the line. Do Joel Embiid and James Harden not draw contact when trying to shoot the ball? Are free throws not a part of the game? Harden and Embiid are elite ISO scorers, have savvy offensive minds, and are more than willing to get their teammates involved as playmakers too. But do you want to know what else the duo have in common that isn’t as universally lauded? While Harden only draws double-teams on 28.4 percent of his offensive possessions, because he only touches the ball 9.2 more times than Embiid in any given game, his 17.3 double-teams per game rank second association-wide behind only Luka Doncic. Despite being a 6-foot-5 slasher, Harden draws an average of 5.9 fouls per game and averages the eighth-most free throws per game, which is tied for third association-wide alongside DeMar DeRozan.