Yea, Embiid looked gassed all night and was shooting everything short. He seemed to have trouble elevating, staying balanced and following through as he normally does. His continued strength at the foul line highlighted these issues. When he can square up, stay balanced and complete the shot process, he is consistent.
I do not think it had much to do with Atlanta's D (they are awful), but more to do with Embiid's knee issue, his shot selection and general lack of cohesion of the 76ers offense all night. There was little structure, a ton of poor shots and poor finishing at the rim from everyone. Brick masons could have built several houses out of both teams shots.
And that is the frustrating part; this game was there for the taking all night long and the 76ers never responded. The Hawks were just as bad; no one seemed to want to win this game, but someone had to.
The other frustrating issue is Doc; with Embiid struggling he never stopped running the offense through Embiid or worked to get others going. Curry had some flashes as did Harris, but they did it on their own. They were not the result of designed plays to exploit the Hawks' weaknesses or matchups. Simmons did vanish again and the Hack-a-Ben strategy was employed once more before 2 mins left.
Doc has got to have backup plans ready to implement when Embiid is off. His answer will likely be that he wanted to support Embiid in hopes he eventually got on track, but at what point do you finally put the team first and try to win the game? It's not like Doc has not had experience with Embiid out of the lineup or needing rest this season. The guy is gutting through a knee injury, give him some help. It reminded me of Reid putting the entire offense on McNabb instead of balancing it out. It worked most of the time as it has with Embiid too, but there are games when you need to recognize the usual formula is not going to work and adjust.
