DALLAS — It’s hard to tell that Joel Embiid has been hampered by wearing a brace on his left knee.
Aside from early shooting woes, the 76ers center displayed the fluid moves he used before sustaining a bone bruise in the knee on March 12. That was a good thing for the Sixers. Led by Embiid’s 36 points and seven rebounds, they defeated the Dallas Mavericks, 113-95, Monday night at American Airlines Center.
On one play, Embiid even channeled Hakeem Olajuwon’s Dream Shake move to score on Willie Cauley-Stein.
His fluidness on this night is a good sign for the Sixers (37-17), who moved a half-game ahead of the Brooklyn Nets atop the Eastern Conference.
The victory also left them 3-1 in their four-game road trip against the Boston Celtics, the New Orleans Pelicans, and the Mavs (29-24). For Dallas, this was its second loss in as many days and third in four games.
This marked Embiid’s fifth game back after missing 10 with his knee injury. He’s been adjusting to wearing a knee brace since his return.
On Saturday, Embiid said wearing a brace is cutting off some of the normal blood flow in the leg.
Coach Doc Rivers said before Monday’s game that he doesn’t know how long Embiid will have to wear one.
“I mean, they go back and forth on it,” Rivers said. “You know, he probably tried 10 different ones already. I’m probably underselling that. I know it’s not going to be for the rest of the season, I can tell you that.”
Very few inside the Dallas arena would have believed he had problems, especially watching his third-quarter performance.
That’s when he scored 13 points while making all five of his shots and going 2-for-2 from the foul line. For the game, Embiid made 10 of 17 shots, including 2 of 3 three-pointers. He also went 14-for-15 from the foul line.
Embiid exited the game with 3 minutes, 25 seconds left in third quarter and didn’t return. The Sixers rested their starters in the fourth quarter.
Furkan Korkmaz finished with 20 points in a reserve role to tie his season-high that he reached two nights earlier in Oklahoma City. Tobias Harris and Shake Milton each had 10 points. Ben Simmons added 8 points, 7 assists, and 6 rebounds.
Luka Dončić paced the Mavs with 32 points.
Former Sixers shooting guard JJ Redick (four points on 1-for-7 shooting) made his Mavericks debut in this game. This comes after the 36-year-old, who’s been hampered by a sore right heel and Achilles, went through his first full practice on Saturday. Dallas acquired Redick from the Pelicans on March 25.
Meanwhile, Mavs standout power forward Kristaps Porzingis missed the game with right knee recovery. This comes one night after he had 31 points and 15 rebounds in a loss to the San Antonio Spurs. He has yet to be cleared to play on back-to-back nights.
Embiid struggled from the field, early on.
He only made two of his six first-quarter shots. However, he had 12 points in that quarter due to making all eight of his foul shots.
With Embiid leading the way, the Sixers were able to take a four-point cushion (30-26) into the second quarter. He found his shooting touch in the second quarter, making 3 of 6 shots en route to scoring 11 points. Embiid’s 10-foot jumper with 1 minute, 1 second before intermission put the Sixers up 60-45.
He had 23 points in the first half.
