Priority No. 1 for the Nets in their upcoming first-round playoff series against the Philadelphia 76ers is keeping MVP favorite Joel Embiid off the free throw line — and hopefully, lower on the scoreboard.
Welcome to Nets Playoff Intel, the first installment in a weeklong series as No. 6 Brooklyn prepares for an uphill battle against No. 3 Philadelphia.
And on a Sixers team with legitimate championship aspirations, it’s no secret Embiid is going to do at least a moderate — if not significant — amount of damage to a Nets team that doesn’t quite have a player his size on the roster.
The Sixers’ star center is averaging 33 points and 10 rebounds per game. His utter dominance has propelled him past two-time award-winner Nikola Jokic to the forefront of MVP conversations entering the playoffs.
Yet while a large chunk of Embiid’s scoring capability comes by virtue of his size, strength and skill, a third of his points come uncontested.
At the foul line.
Embiid takes an average of about 12 free throws per game and converts on 10 of them — an 85.7% clip trumping all centers in efficiency while leading the next center on the list (Jokic) by 5.7 free throw attempts per game.
In each of his last five games against the Nets, Embiid has made at least nine free throws, has made as many as 15 and has shot as many as 19.
“Obviously Joel is an MVP caliber player. Thirty-three points per game. Dominant on both ends. I think the big thing with us is how often he gets to the line,” said reserve sharpshooter Joe Harris after Tuesday’s practice at the HSS Training Facility in Industry City. “I don’t think you’re gonna completely limit his scoring ability, but if you can limit some of his free ones — he shoots 86 percent from the line — so if you can limit him being there even a little bit, I think it can be helpful for us.”
Therein lies the question: How? How does David stop Goliath without casting the first stone?
Embiid stands seven feet tall and checks in at 280 pounds. He can take his man off the dribble from as far out as the three-point line, establish low post position and bully his way to the rim, or catch the ball in the high post and face-up for either a mid-range shot or a drive to the rim. He’s a threat in pick-and-roll situations and he hits a third of his attempts from three-point range.
And if that’s not enough, he’s also a noted foul hunter. Embiid still uses the swing-through move to draw fouls, even if it doesn’t send the offensive player to the free throw line anymore. It still works towards getting a team into the bonus, where any whistled contact will send him to the line.
Embiid’s strength will force the Nets to send extra bodies his way. Extra bodies means extra likelihood of contact. Extra contact means extra free throws if the Nets aren’t disciplined in their defensive approach.
“You have to be ok with some of the shots that he’s going to take and some that he’s going to make,” head coach Jacque Vaughn said on Tuesday. “The free ones we can’t give to him: the reach-ins, the tap on the arm, the sweep-through, we’ve just gotta be smart and disciplined in how we guard him.”
The Nets know guarding Embiid is going to take an entire team effort, but Vaughn seemed optimistic — and excited — about the individual matchup for starting center Nic Claxton.
The numbers aren’t on Claxton’s side: Embiid is averaging 30 points and 10 rebounds in seven games against Claxton vs. only 10 points and six rebounds for the Nets’ starter.
Vaughn, however, believes the growth in Claxton’s game this season better equips him for a playoff series against the presumptive league MVP.
“I think he has learned how to play against different centers in the league. How they offer different challenges for him and what his advantages are,” Vaughn said. “I talked about it the other night; you want to lean into your gifts, not your deficiencies. And he has some gifts, so he’s gonna lean into those, because that’s beneficial for us. And we’ll try to stay away from those deficiencies, and I think we’ll be ok.”
Yet still there’s room for the unexpected. Nets star Mikal Bridges flashed a quick grin when asked if the team would give Embiid different looks on defense.
“I guess you guys will see on Saturday,” he said.
Vaughn also laughed when asked if Embiid’s size and strength would prevent the Nets from switching on defense.
“There’s no limit. There’s no limit to tenacity and sweat equity and giving what you got,” he said. “We only got a couple guys his size, but we got some guys that are gonna play hard.”
The Nets want to keep Embiid off the free throw line, but in playoff basketball, and against a Sixers team with other dynamic offensive weapons in former Nets star James Harden, budding combo guard Tyrese Maxey, New York native Tobias Harris and sixth man Deanthony Melton, Brooklyn will have its hands full.
Check back tomorrow for more Nets Playoff Intel.
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