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      Measuring Up to Wilt Chamberlain May Take More Than Stats

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      Several N.B.A. players have had Chamberlain-like performances this season. But to some, he will always be untouchable.From a courtside folding chair at Fiserv Forum, where Dick Garrett has assisted fans as a Milwaukee Bucks employee for more than two decades, he recently watched Giannis Antetokounmpo toy with the Washington Wizards, levitating above the rim as if he were frolicking in a slam-dunk contest.“Fifty-five points and he was doing it so easily, like no one could even challenge him,” Garrett said. “I’m thinking, ‘Geez, he’s a man playing against boys.’ ”Not unlike what he witnessed, but with an even better view, more than a half-century ago.Such physical dominance took Garrett back to his rookie N.B.A. season, 1969-70, with the Los Angeles Lakers. In a postseason run to a Game 7 finals loss to the Knicks, he lobbed passes into the post from his backcourt position to the man best known as Wilt, in that familiar one-name tribute to fame.This season, Antetokounmpo, among others, has been drawing enough statistical comparisons to Wilt Chamberlain — who scored a record 100 points in a game and averaged a mind-boggling 50 per game for a season — to wonder if the sport has ascended to its most exceptional athletic plane.Or, if its video-game mimicry is as much or more the result of competitive engineering.Take a significantly expanded area of attack due to rampant 3-point shooting; open up driving lanes to the physically blessed and skilled likes of Antetokounmpo to score or find open teammates on the perimeter. What you get is an array of eye-opening individual stat lines in a league where team scoring has soared by roughly 15 points from where it was a decade ago.On Dec. 30, Garrett watched Antetokounmpo manhandle the Minnesota Timberwolves for 43 points and 20 rebounds, two nights after notching 45 points and 22 rebounds against the Bulls in Chicago. Antetokounmpo’s seven assists in Chicago and five against Minnesota made him the first player to record at least 40 points, 20 rebounds and 5 assists in consecutive games since, well, Wilt.Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo is one of several players who have put up Wilt-like stat lines this season.Michael Reaves/Getty ImagesAntetokounmpo, with his seven-foot frame and elastic wingspan that can optically delude one into thinking he scratches the ceiling, is indeed what Garrett called the ringleader of a “big man revolution.”It hasn’t just been the tallest of the league’s elite — Antetokounmpo, Nikola Jokic in Denver, Joel Embiid in Philadelphia — whose statistical bingeing has reintroduced Chamberlain, who died in 1999, into the N.B.A. discourse.When Luka Doncic, Dallas’s 6-foot-7 do-everything Slovenian import, strafed the Knicks for 60 points, 21 rebounds and 10 assists in a comeback overtime victory late last month, commentators breathlessly noted that no one, not even Wilt, had ever posted such a line.Walt Frazier, the Hall of Fame guard who broadcasts Knicks games and once shared a backcourt with Garrett at Southern Illinois, has an idea why.“What you mostly see now are guys running up and down, dunking on people,” he said in a telephone interview. “Only a few teams buckle down on defense. They don’t double-team when someone goes off. When someone came in and dropped 40 on me, it was always, ‘Clyde got destroyed.’ Now Doncic scores 60 and no one even says who was guarding him.”Frazier, 77, was echoing recent laments on the state of the sport from the old-school coaches Gregg Popovich and Steve Kerr. It’s no surprise that appreciation, or lack thereof, for the contemporary N.B.A. would break down along generational lines. For those who played with or against Chamberlain, he is basketball’s Babe Ruth, the game’s all-time goliath. Everyone has a tale, perhaps on the tall side, to tell.Billy Cunningham, 79, a Hall of Famer and Chamberlain’s teammate with the Philadelphia 76ers, cited the night Gus Johnson, a very strong forward for the Baltimore Bullets, went at Wilt with every intention of dunking over him as he’d done earlier in the game.Chamberlain didn’t just block the shot, Cunningham said: “He actually caught the ball, and while Gus went to the floor, he just stood there holding it over his head.”However grainy the video, however dorky the short shorts, do not try to convince Cunningham and company that what Chamberlain achieved was the result of an ancient, inferior era. They will remind you that he averaged 45.8 minutes per game for his career and seldom sat one out, in stark contrast to the more coddled modern star — who, in fairness, represents a far greater financial investment to protect.But when a knee injury limited Chamberlain to 12 regular-season games in 1969-70, he returned for all 18 playoff games to average 22.1 points, 22.2 rebounds and 47.3 minutes per game. And this, Garrett reminded, was Chamberlain at 33, several years removed from when he could run like the track-and-field star he had been at the University of Kansas — as freakish an athlete as the Greek version, Antetokounmpo.Chamberlain and the Lakers lost to the Knicks in the N.B.A. finals in 1970 but beat them two years later, giving Chamberlain his second championship.Walter Iooss Jr./Sports Illustrated, via Getty ImagesIt is foolish to think that professional athletes aren’t physically enhanced from a half-century ago, if only for their weight training and nutrition. As Garrett said: “You look at the size of Giannis — who’s not as strong as Wilt or even Shaquille O’Neal. But he and a few of these other big guys, they’re athletic enough to play like smaller guys, and that’s what’s changed.”Having played with Elgin Baylor on the Lakers, and watched from up close the modern-day smaller and midsize players, Garrett said: “I honestly think the wing players and guards are pretty similar in what they do.”But, he added, in comparison with Wilt’s time: “The way Giannis and some others are scoring, the level of resistance is not the same. I don’t know if that’s for the better or not.”Now the league eagerly awaits the arrival of the latest in a parade of big men from abroad who have, along with the likes of Kevin Durant, dramatically altered positional perception. France’s Victor Wembanyama may be the next greatest thing or at least Kristaps Porzingis 2.0. But for every progression in size, skills and worldwide production of talent, the old guard will judiciously argue that their game was fundamentally sounder, tactically superior, defensively stouter.They will remind you that when Wilt averaged 50.4 points per game for the Philadelphia Warriors in 1961-62, team scoring was at 118.8 points per game — or five points per game higher than this season. And that was when there was hand-checking, hard fouls and other generous interpretations of traveling rules.Wilt established four of the top five season-scoring averages while clanking half his free throws and, as Cunningham noted, “when there were only eight or nine teams and he had to play against Bill Russell 10 times a year.”Conversely, in Wilt’s time, the flow of African American talent into the N.B.A. was limited by a de facto quota system, which no doubt affected the league’s overall quality.Bill Russell of the Boston Celtics posts up against Chamberlain during a game in 1968.Dick Raphael/NBAE, via Getty ImagesCunningham conceded that comparisons are, beyond futile, “almost unfair because everything is so different. The game in all sports now is about entertainment.”The bottom line: The more cash that pours into sports, the more tinkering there will be to satisfy contemporary highlight tastes, especially those of younger fans who drive internet clicks, fantasy leagues, merchandise sales and the newest revenue deity: online gambling. In a league where regular-season relevance has been dampened by injuries and load-management caution, and further diluted by recent postseason expansion, why so many games have taken on the eye candy nature of all-star games is no great mystery, just calculated marketing.For Frazier, who quarterbacked the acclaimed 1970 and 1973 championship Knicks, the playoffs are when the bridge between old and new is rebuilt. “That’s when the continuity and defense that we older guys love does return,” he said.Only then, perhaps, can we gain a meaningful perspective on the historical numbers game currently in play, and on how to more accurately measure the young wannabes against Wilt. More

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      NBA Christmas Day Games 2022: What to Know

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      The N.B.A. brings out its stars on Christmas. This year, there will be some new rivalries, too.The N.B.A. showcases its stars on Christmas Day, and this year there will be some big names to watch, like LeBron James, Jayson Tatum and Joel Embiid.There will also be a new face in the mix (Memphis Grizzlies guard Ja Morant is playing on the holiday for the first time) and a familiar one missing (Golden State’s Stephen Curry is out injured).In each of the five games, there is something to look forward to, from young players trying to make their mark to older foes avenging playoff losses.Here’s what you need to know.All times are Eastern, and all games will air on ABC and ESPN. The statistics were current entering Friday night’s games.Philadelphia 76ers at Knicks, noonJames Harden missed several games for the Sixers with an injury, but he’s back and helping them stack up wins.Matt Slocum/Associated PressAfter rocky starts, these teams are finally clicking. The Knicks surged up the Eastern Conference standings on the strength of a recent winning streak, while Philadelphia was compiling a streak of its own.They met on Nov. 4, with the Knicks winning, but Philadelphia didn’t have its two best players: center Joel Embiid and guard James Harden. That makes Sunday’s game the teams’ first true matchup. The Knicks have played on Christmas more often than any other team, but this is the first time they will have Jalen Brunson, their big free-agent signing of the off-season.Brunson, a guard who spent his first four seasons in Dallas, leads the Knicks in assists and is the team’s second-best scorer, behind forward Julius Randle. For the first quarter of the season, the Knicks struggled to string together wins. But then December hit, and they found their stride.That’s when fortunes improved for the Sixers, too. Harden had missed more than a dozen games with a foot injury but returned this month to produce several impressive games with double-digit assist totals. The Knicks will, of course, have to watch out for Embiid as well. Last month, in a game against the Utah Jazz, he had this wild stat line: 59 points, 11 rebounds, 8 assists and 7 blocks.Los Angeles Lakers at Dallas Mavericks, 2:30 p.m.Dallas Mavericks guard Luka Doncic is in his fifth N.B.A. season but has already been named to the All-Star team three times.Emil Lippe/Associated PressFans can seemingly always count on seeing the Lakers on Christmas — this is the 24th year in a row — but nothing else about the team has been that consistent.Even as LeBron James, who will turn 38 on Friday, continues to defy reason with his youthful play, minor injuries keep tugging him to the bench. Then there’s the major injury to center Anthony Davis, who is out indefinitely with a sore right foot. Other ailments have rippled through the roster, and the Lakers’ sub-.500 record reflects that. But it also reflects an aging team that got off to a terrible start (0-5) and hasn’t settled into a high-performing rhythm since then.All of that is to say: The Lakers have been a little bit all over the place.Dallas has been, too. Luka Doncic is playing and scoring more than last season, but the Mavericks are losing to bad teams right after beating good ones. The Lakers could fall into either category on Sunday. At the very least, it should be a fun game, with Doncic and James battling to see who can put on the best show. They are both capable of making even the earliest risers hold off on a midday nap.Milwaukee Bucks at Boston Celtics, 5 p.m.Jayson Tatum led the Celtics to the N.B.A. finals last season and has followed that up with high-scoring play this season.David Butler II/USA Today Sports, via ReutersBoston’s Jayson Tatum has responded to his disappointing appearance in the N.B.A. finals last season in the best way: by playing better than ever before. He’s leading the league in minutes per game (37.2), and he’s putting them to good use, averaging a career-best 30.6 points per game by making about half of his shots.The Celtics will face a Bucks team with a not-so-shabby star of its own in Giannis Antetokounmpo. Last season ended in playoff disappointment for him, too, with Milwaukee falling to Boston in seven games in the second round of the Eastern Conference playoffs. Sunday will be his first chance for a little revenge.The Bucks and the Celtics are jockeying for first place in the East, though they are fighting with different strengths. Boston has the league’s second-best offense, while Milwaukee has the third-best defense. The postseason is still a ways off, but it would be a surprise not to see one of these teams in the N.B.A. finals. Their Christmas matchup should help each team see what it needs to work on to make sure it’s the one playing for a title.Memphis Grizzlies at Golden State, 8 p.m.Ja Morant has made the Grizzlies one of the most exciting teams to watch in recent years. Brandon Dill/Associated PressNo one can argue that the Grizzlies haven’t earned this, their Christmas debut.Point guard Ja Morant is the speedy, soaring, confident heart of the team, but Memphis is more than its brightest star — and Morant would be the first to say so. He’s averaging a career-best 7.8 assists per game as he and his teammates keep the Grizzlies near the top of a tightly contested Western Conference.They finished last season as the No. 2 seed in the West and could have made a run to the conference finals if Golden State (and injuries) hadn’t gotten in their way in the second round. Sunday will be the teams’ first meeting since then.Both teams have dealt with their share of injuries this season, but Golden State has an especially big one: Stephen Curry has been out since he hurt his shoulder against Indiana on Dec. 14, and it’s not clear when he will return.Golden State is currently ranked in the bottom half of the West, but the intensity of last season’s playoff series with Memphis should carry over and make Sunday’s game a good contest nonetheless.Phoenix Suns at Denver Nuggets, 10:30 p.m.Denver’s Nikola Jokic won the Most Valuable Player Award the past two seasons.Kevin C. Cox/Getty ImagesThe last game on a long day of basketball is easy to overlook. But Denver’s Nikola Jokic is sure to make at least one pass that will make staying up late worth it. That’s kind of his thing: One minute he has the ball, and then the next his teammate on the other side of the court does, and no one is quite sure how it happened. The Suns are a top-10 defensive team, but some things just can’t be stopped.Phoenix is also the league’s best on offense, which could be a challenge for the Nuggets, who are among the N.B.A.’s worst on defense. Suns guard Chris Paul is one of the best ever at getting the ball to his teammates. Paul led the league in assists last season, his fifth time doing so, and is averaging about nine per game this season.If this game’s late start isn’t a deal-breaker, it should be a nice chance to see some excellent passing and skilled shooters making good on the assist. More

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      The Sixers Give a Glimpse of How Good They Can Be

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      Joel Embiid is formidable, and James Harden is keeping the offense on track. The Philadelphia 76ers are clicking — and hoping it lasts this time.PHILADELPHIA — The 76ers were not exactly putting on a clinic against their undermanned opponent.Philadelphia’s Shake Milton was driving into the teeth of Golden State’s defense on Friday night when he lost control of his dribble. In the ensuing mad scramble, his teammate De’Anthony Melton collected the loose ball and somehow located the rim above him. But when Melton’s layup attempt was swatted away by Golden State’s Kevon Looney, someone else swooped in for a cameo.It is impossible to miss the 76ers’ Joel Embiid, who continues to stuff box scores with numbers that resemble lottery tickets. He has seldom been more fearsome or more effective. So no one was surprised that, after Looney blocked Melton’s shot, Embiid was able to reach over the top of a crowd to grab (another) offensive rebound and draw (another) foul to earn two (more) free throws.In their 118-106 win, the 76ers were uneven but just good enough — and that matters to them a great deal these days. After a dismal start to the season, and despite another recent rash of injuries, they have won four straight. James Harden is directing the offense with more pace. The team’s reserves are producing. And Embiid is busting through defenders like a snowplow.“I think the main thing is that everybody has bought in,” Embiid said after he finished with 34 points and 13 rebounds to help the 76ers improve to a 16-12 record. “Everybody knows how to play. Everybody knows where the ball has to go. The ball is not sticking. Everybody is doing their job.”Yes, the 76ers are playing some tantalizing basketball. The question, of course, is whether this team — so often in the discussion as a contender in recent seasons — can sustain its strong play. Embiid, a five-time All-Star, has never caught a whiff of the conference finals. (He can thank Kawhi Leonard and his theatrics in 2019 for one such missed opportunity.) Now, there is a sense of urgency.Embiid is leading the league in scoring, with an average of 33.3 points per game, and averaging 1.6 blocks per game.Matt Slocum/Associated Press“I think our guys are finally seeing that this is who we are, this is how we have to play,” 76ers Coach Doc Rivers said. “They’re starting to visualize what we are. And that’s a good thing.”Rivers wants his team to defend — what coach doesn’t? — but he also has implored them to play with greater tempo, to get out and score in transition, and there is an ongoing experiment at the center of it all. Since the 76ers traded for Harden in February, he and Embiid have played together in just 32 regular-season games, including 11 games this season.“It’s not a lot,” said Harden, who had 27 points and 9 assists against Golden State. “So every single game, we’re figuring each other out: me getting it going or him getting it going, our pick-and-roll, how teams are guarding us. It’s a game-by-game scenario. So we just keep building on that. It’s actually fun.”It must be easy to have fun playing with Embiid these days. In addition to averaging a league-leading 33.3 points a game heading into the weekend, Embiid is shooting a career-best 53.5 percent from the field.Steve Kerr, Golden State’s coach, said that Embiid reminded him of some of the great centers he faced as a player in the late ’80s and through the ’90s. The game was different back then, with less emphasis on the 3-point shot and a greater focus on big men who could dominate down low.Physically, Embiid is a throwback to those centers of a bygone era. At seven feet tall and 280 pounds, he can impose his will against pretty much anyone near the basket.“But what makes him unique is he can put the ball on the floor and knock down jumpers, hit 3s — he’s such a talented guy,” Kerr said. “You have to come in with a plan and a backup plan and try a lot of different things, because otherwise he’ll just dominate the game. And he might do that anyway.”Facing him on Friday, Kerr had backup plans for his backup plans, but Embiid fed them all through a paper shredder.There he was in the first quarter, sinking a 14-foot jumper over the top of Looney and using his dribble to get past Jonathan Kuminga for a layup. There he was in the second quarter, grabbing another offensive rebound before going straight back up against James Wiseman to create contact and draw a foul. There he was at the start of the third quarter, igniting the 76ers with an 18-foot jumper and a 3-pointer.And there he was in the closing minutes, sealing the win with an alley-oop dunk.It is a credit to Embiid, who led the league in scoring last season, that he has still identified ways to improve. This season, for example, he has carved out the elbows — the twin spots on the court where the free-throw line and the corners of the lane meet — as his personal canvas. From there, he can shoot over smaller defenders or use his strength and quickness to drive past them.“And the second part is his passing,” Rivers said. “His passing has gone from a four to a nine in that area.”The Golden State team that took the court in Philadelphia was absent several injured stars, including Draymond Green, Andrew Wiggins and Stephen Curry, who hurt his left shoulder in a loss to the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday and could miss several weeks.Then again, the 76ers had their own issues. Two of their starters, Tyrese Maxey and Tobias Harris, were sidelined with injuries. But they were not about to make excuses. Embiid made sure of it. More

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      Celtics Shake Off N.B.A. Finals Loss With Season-Opening Win

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      A tough loss to Golden State ended Boston’s championship hopes last season. The lessons from that series are already showing.BOSTON — The Celtics talked an awful lot in training camp about the value of experience. Last season, they got loads of it by surviving a brutal start, and by ousting intergalactic celebrities in the early rounds of the playoffs (Kevin Durant, Giannis Antetokounmpo) before advancing to the N.B.A. finals.The process made them tougher and wiser, with a reservoir of resilience that may have equipped them to handle the news, essentially on the eve of camp last month, that their coach, Ime Udoka, had been suspended for the season for violating team policies. His sudden absence could have been disruptive.Instead, the Celtics seemed to rededicate themselves to their singular goal of winning a championship. Why not them? Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown are two of the league’s brightest stars. The team’s supporting cast includes Marcus Smart, last season’s defensive player of the year. And if Joe Mazzulla, the team’s 34-year-old interim coach, is daunted by the task ahead of him, he hardly showed it Tuesday night as the Celtics opened their season with a 126-117 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers.“These guys have been through a lot together,” said Mazzulla, whose players celebrated his first career N.B.A. coaching win by dousing him with water.Brown shot 14 of 24 from the field on Tuesday, a key to Boston’s strong performance. The Celtics shot 56.1 percent for the game.Cj Gunther/EPA, via ShutterstockThe last time the Celtics played a meaningful home game was back in June, when Golden State’s Stephen Curry gave them the business — yes, the business — in Game 6 of the N.B.A. finals. Curry left Boston with another championship, and Tatum and Brown were left to contemplate how they could take the next step.“We both had bad summers after losing to the Warriors on our home floor,” Brown said. “Having to answer for it all summer long — it was tough. So going into this season, we kept all of that in mind.”On Tuesday, Brown and Tatum each scored 35 points to eviscerate the 76ers, who have title dreams of their own. Brown shot 14 of 24 from the field, while Tatum shot 13 of 20 and grabbed 12 rebounds. The Celtics used their speed to run the 76ers off the parquet floor, outscoring them by 24-2 in transition.“I think the group that was together last year knew how they wanted to approach this year,” said Malcolm Brogdon, who scored 16 points off the bench in his Celtics debut after they traded for him in July. “And I think playing with pace was one of the things they wanted to improve.”It can be easy to read too much into training camp and season openers. Most teams have high hopes. Optimism runs amok. The Celtics are no different. For weeks, the players have expressed confidence in Mazzulla, who joined the Celtics as an assistant in 2019 and whose only previous head coaching experience was at Fairmont State, a Division II program in West Virginia.For now, at least, Mazzulla has gotten the players to buy into his message — by striking that delicate balance between being demanding of them while giving them the freedom to do what they do best, Brogdon said. The Celtics appear determined to play hard and play fast. Catch them if you can.Their opener against the 76ers was an immediate litmus test.Joe Mazzulla, the Celtics’ interim coach, had been an assistant coach with the team since 2019.Maddie Meyer/Getty Images“I’m not sure what you learn,” Doc Rivers, the coach of the 76ers, said before the game. “Opening night is its own beast. Guys have worked all summer to show not only us but everyone what they’ve done, what they’ve worked on. And as a coach, you want to make sure they don’t show everything — because they may not be ready to show that.”Remember: The Celtics were 18-21 at one point last season before they found their footing under Udoka. With that in mind, plenty can happen between now and June, or even between now and December.“It’s just one game,” Brown said.For the players this season, there will be constant reminders of the franchise’s illustrious past. On the team’s home court, silhouettes of the number 6 fill both lanes — a homage to Bill Russell, the iconic Celtics center who died in July. Tuesday’s game was preceded by a ceremony to honor him that included remarks from Brown — “Our gratitude is endless,” he said — and a new work by Porsha Olayiwola, Boston’s poet laureate.The Celtics wore special jerseys embroidered with 11 diamond patches, a nod to the 11 championships that the team won with Russell. And the script on the front of the jerseys was said to be inspired by the aesthetics of Slade’s Bar & Grill, which Russell owned in the 1960s. In their pregame huddle, the Celtics reminded one another to “honor the man” with their work that evening.The Celtics made some modest changes over the summer, trading for Brogdon and signing a twilight-era Blake Griffin, both of whom received big cheers when they entered the game in the first quarter. Griffin immediately endeared himself to the crowd by grabbing two offensive rebounds on his first possession.The Celtics opened the season with several tributes to Bill Russell, the franchise icon who died in July. He wore the No. 6, which has been retired across the N.B.A. in his honor.Charles Krupa/Associated PressThe entire team was surprisingly sharp, committing just 11 turnovers while shooting 56.1 percent from the field. They were also without Robert Williams, their starting center, who underwent knee surgery last month, and they should be even more fearsome when he returns.In his absence, a conga line of teammates took turns mixing it up with Joel Embiid, Philadelphia’s All-Star center. Early in the third quarter, Embiid got tangled up with Smart, who said he stopped himself from escalating the situation. (Again, meet the older, wiser Celtics.)“It’s maturity,” Smart said. “I could’ve cracked his head open, but I didn’t.”In the waning seconds, as the crowd began a familiar chant — “Let’s go, Celtics!” — Mazzulla allowed himself to savor the moment.“When they’re cheering for you,” he said, “it means you’re doing something right.” More

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      Jimmy Butler and the Heat Close Out the 76ers in Game 6

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      Philadelphia traded Jimmy Butler to Miami after falling short of the conference finals in 2019. Now he’s going, and they’re going home.As soon as their playoff game ended Thursday night, Jimmy Butler of the Miami Heat found Joel Embiid of the Philadelphia 76ers to embrace him and say goodbye. The two stars were teammates in Philadelphia during the 2018-19 season, and there was a time when Butler thought he might remain in the city longer. The 76ers had other plans, though, and that slight has stayed with Butler.Moments after he embraced Embiid, Butler was asked what he had said.“That I love him; I’m proud of him,” Butler said in a television interview. “Yes, yes, yes, I still wish I was on this team. I definitely love the Miami Heat though, man. I’m glad that I’m here.”The Miami Heat are glad, too.In the three seasons since he moved south from Philadelphia, Butler has led the Heat to the Eastern Conference Finals twice. The 76ers, who were on the cusp of a conference finals berth with Butler and Embiid, are still trying to figure out how to get past the second round.“He wasn’t going to let this go to seven,” Coach Erik Spoelstra said of Butler, who scored 32 points as the Heat eliminated the 76ers.Matt Slocum/Associated PressOn Thursday, Butler scored 32 points to help his Heat eliminate the 76ers with a 99-90 victory in Game 6.“He gets incredibly desperate in close games or when he sees the light at the end of the tunnel to close out a team,” Heat Coach Erik Spoelstra said. “He’s not going to leave it to chance. He saw the opportunity — ‘Hey we have an opportunity to end this tonight’ — and he wasn’t going to let this go to seven.”It was a game that felt more lopsided than its final score indicated. With 1 minute 8 seconds left, and Miami leading by 14 points, the 76ers pulled their starters, leaving Embiid and James Harden to watch their season end from the bench.The game closed a disappointing spring for the 76ers, who had hoped to compete for a championship this year after they traded for Harden in February.Harden looked disinterested at times as he committed four turnovers while also contributing 11 points, 9 assists and 4 rebounds. After Philadelphia had tied the series at 2-2, Harden said his team was only then starting to jell in a way that could propel them to a championship. Two games later, they were out.Embiid, who had missed the first two games of the series with a concussion and facial injuries, played with that fracture still healing and a thumb injury starting in Game 3. He scored 20 points and had 12 rebounds on Thursday, but his injuries cleared the way for Butler to be the best player in the series.“Jimmy’s always been this for us in the playoffs,” Spoelstra told reporters before the game as he was prodded about Butler’s role. “Whatever’s needed. And it might be different game to game.”Butler is known for a lot of things, not all of them flattering. On his best days he provides stifling defense and potent offense, but he also has a reputation for irritating his teammates and coaches, and forcing his way out of teams. He can work himself to the point of exhaustion in the service of winning a game, or launch into a screaming fight in a sideline huddle.That happened in March, when he and Spoelstra had to be separated by other players and coaches multiple times. Spoelstra laughed it off after that game, attributing the moment to tempers flaring during a loss.In the playoffs, Butler has shown his best side.“Jimmy is a great competitor,” Spoelstra said Thursday. “I think he’s one of the ultimate competitors in this profession. I think a lot of things get lost in translation.”Joel Embiid had 20 points and 12 rebounds in Game 6 but was limited by injuries in the series.Tim Nwachukwu/Getty ImagesGame 6 took place on the third anniversary of a painful day in Philadelphia sports history. On May 12, 2019, the 76ers were tied with the Toronto Raptors in Game 7 of an Eastern Conference semifinal series when Kawhi Leonard, then with the Raptors, launched a final shot from in front of the Raptors bench as time expired. The ball hit the rim in three different places before finally falling through the net, ending the 76ers’ season.Butler was on the court that day, watching helplessly from the lane as Leonard’s shot danced around the rim and then dropped, but he never got a chance to answer it the following season. The 76ers were not willing to commit to Butler over the long term, and he left that summer and joined the Heat in a sign-and-trade deal.He carried Miami to the N.B.A. finals in the bubble in his first playoff run a year later, and now, after a first-round exit last year, he is headed back to the conference finals after helping the Heat post the best record in the Eastern Conference this season.He’s also keeping score. After finishing off his old team, Butler was caught on the camera by a Miami television station exclaiming, “Tobias Harris over me?”Like Butler, Harris, who still plays for the 76ers, was acquired by Philadelphia during the 2018-19 season. But the 76ers signed him to a five-year deal worth $180 million the same summer the team sent Butler to Miami.Later, Butler spoke like a man at peace.“Now I’m where I belong,” he told reporters. “I guess, where I should have been a long time ago. A place where I’m welcome.” More

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      Joel Embiid Is Carving a Path Into the Heart of Philadelphia

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      Embiid came into his own this season, positioning the Sixers for a run at a championship. Yet another injury may derail that goal, but he has earned respect.There was a time when it wasn’t certain that the Philadelphia 76ers should be placed on the broad shoulders of Joel Embiid.There were questions about his maturity, like when he danced shirtless onstage at a Meek Mill concert in 2017 while out with a knee injury. Bryan Colangelo, then the team’s head of basketball operations, called it “a little” disappointing. (This was silly.)The more concerning questions were about Embiid’s conditioning and weight after he was drafted, in 2014, and then about his durability, when he missed his first two seasons with foot injuries. That was when the Sixers were going through one of the worst periods in franchise history — also known as The Process.Fast forward to now: Embiid has convincingly put all those concerns to rest. Over the last two seasons, he has transformed into one of the best players in the N.B.A. and a contender for the Most Valuable Player Award.And he’s just not any superstar. He’s a Philadelphia Superstar — by and of the city — the proverbial man of the people. The kind who you might occasionally spot going for a jog through the streets of Philadelphia (sorry, Mr. Springsteen) or dropping by a local court to play pickup. Since the Sixers drafted him, Embiid has made being in Philadelphia a core part of his identity, all while a turnstile of other top players have left their teams. His Twitter biography reads “PROCESSING” — a nod to his assumption of The Process as a nickname. The term refers to a string of losing seasons in the mid-2010s as the Sixers stockpiled draft picks — picks that have, at least in part, led to Philadelphia’s success today.It seems appropriate that Embiid won the scoring title this year, making him the first Sixer to do so since the deeply beloved Allen Iverson in 2005. Embiid is on track to do what no other basketball player this century has approached: give Philadelphia basketball fans someone (not named Iverson) to truly believe in.Embiid has had to shoulder much of the load of leading Philadelphia by himself.Matt Slocum/Associated PressThis year, Embiid’s path to permanent enshrinement in Philadelphia lore hit a snag when he was diagnosed with a concussion and an orbital fracture after he was elbowed in the face during the final game of a first-round playoff series against the Toronto Raptors. The Sixers moved on to the second round to face the Miami Heat, the East’s No. 1 seed, and lost the first game in a blowout on Monday without Embiid. Game 2 was set for Wednesday.Entering the postseason, it had seemed that this would be one of the Sixers’ best opportunities to win a championship in decades — even better than when they were the No. 1 seed in 2021. They had a dominant Embiid and a strong partner to share the load in James Harden, who was named M.V.P. with Houston in 2017-18. They also have a cast of talented teammates, such as the second-year guard Tyrese Maxey. But it’s unclear when Embiid will be able to play again, and the Sixers are, at best, on even footing with Miami if Embiid is healthy.But even if the Sixers don’t advance, Embiid’s play has earned him a deep well of affection within his city. The Sixers were shrouded in drama this season as a result of the trade demand from Ben Simmons, who was supposed to help Embiid in the championship quest but never took the court before he was traded to the Nets for Harden in February. Instead of letting the season get derailed, Embiid mostly stayed quiet about Simmons and kept his focus on the court, where he averaged 30.6 points, 11.7 rebounds and 4.2 assists per game.Philadelphia has long been known as a difficult city in which to earn longstanding affection from fans. Only a few athletes have been able to attain that — and often not without significant bumps along the way: players like Julius Erving and Charles Barkley, and in other sports, the Eagles’ Brian Dawkins.Other stars (ahem: Simmons) are often run out of town.“A big part of my job is recruiting free agents directly or even indirectly in trade,” said Daryl Morey, the Sixers’ president of basketball operations. “And I think there’s a respect of the Philadelphia fan base that the players have that they’re like, ‘Will they accept me or not?’“Because if they don’t accept you, it gets ugly fast for everybody.”Marc Zumoff, who was the Sixers’ play-by-play broadcaster for almost three decades before retiring last year, said in an email that, “Philadelphia fans like to know they are part of the process.“Whether they’re cheering, booing, or chanting in unison, they want to elicit reactions from the players, coaches, officials or whoever is their target,” he said. “In Joel’s case, his expressions, gyrations or especially when he holds his arms out in exaltation, he feeds the frenzy.”He added, “Sometimes he reacts to the fans; other times, they react to him.”James Harden, left, was traded to the Sixers from the Nets in February.Matt Slocum/Associated PressEmbiid has come to be known for his playful behavior, on and off the court.Cole Burston/Getty ImagesThat’s not the case for every Philadelphia star, Zumoff said, citing a Phillies icon.“Mike Schmidt may have been the greatest third baseman in baseball history, but I think our fans wanted more outward emotion from him,” he said.If there’s a figure who understands being beloved as an athlete in Philadelphia, it’s Jimmy Rollins, who played for the Phillies from 2000 to 2014. He won the National League’s Most Valuable Player Award in 2007 and helped deliver a World Series in 2008.Winning over fans from Philadelphia “takes responsibility,” said Rollins, who is now an analyst for TBS.“When I say responsibility, I mean owning up to when you mess up,” he said. “Not making excuses, but showing up every day and playing with a certain style of grittiness.”Embiid has alluded to such sentiments, while also being willing to throw some of that same energy back at fans.“I haven’t forgotten but 2 years ago, I got booed, people in Philly wanted me to be traded,” Embiid said on Twitter before this season. “I even shushed them. Only the real ones didn’t but I just put the work in that off-season to be better cuz I knew I wasn’t playing up to my potential. Philly fans, y’all also gotta be better.”There are two ways to be an athlete who never has to buy a meal in Philadelphia ever again. You can help win a title, as the N.F.L. quarterback Nick Foles did in leading the Eagles to the Super Bowl in the 2017 season. Or you can be a larger-than-life star, like Iverson. Ideally, you’re both.Iverson wasn’t just a force in the city. He was a cultural beacon who affected the way players dressed, wore their hair and felt about themselves. He was also one of the most visible figures in all of sports. But the city’s fondness for Iverson went beyond his production and style. It was also about size. Iverson was barely six feet tall and constantly outplayed opponents much bigger than him. In the case of Embiid, he’s a dominant physical presence unto himself and is in part successful because he’s able to outmuscle defenders. Most players are smaller than him.Allen Iverson, who led the Sixers to the N.B.A. finals in 2001, is one of a kind, but Embiid is carving his own path into the hearts of Philadelphia fans.Tim Nwachukwu/Getty ImagesEmbiid has essentially carved out his own path. He’s a millennial superstar — meaning he’s aware of and makes use of the internet more than Iverson’s generation of players ever had to. It’s been one of the many ways Embiid has increased his reach in a way that’s been rare for professional athletes. A meme here. A trash talk Instagram caption there. The occasional joke to sate the masses.“It’s pretty rare to have someone as talented as him — the best player in the league, we would argue — and also be so aware of his impact on the daily lives,” Morey said.If Embiid comes back this series, he’ll be playing through, in addition to the orbital fracture, a torn ligament in his thumb. Just by taking the floor, he’ll burnish his image as a warrior willing to, as Rollins said, “find a way to make that impossible happen,” a willingness Rollins said is key to gaining the warm embrace of Philadelphia.Whatever Embiid is, he is Philadelphia’s.“I think he’ll always be a beloved figure no matter what,” Morey said. More

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      The Sixers Get a Win, but Not a Chance to Exhale

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      The Game 1 victory over the Raptors won’t ease the pressure on Joel Embiid and James Harden, who have played well but come up short in the end before.PHILADELPHIA — There was a nervous energy throughout the Wells Fargo Center on Saturday evening as the Philadelphia 76ers prepared to play Game 1 of their first-round playoff series against the Toronto Raptors.The Sixers have star power that should overwhelm most other teams, but their stars have had trouble in the playoffs before. Joel Embiid, who led the N.B.A. in points per game during the regular season, has never been past the second round of the playoffs. James Harden, who won the league’s Most Valuable Player Award in 2017-18, has not been past the conference finals since he reached the N.B.A. finals with the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2012.Did fans in the building dare hope that this team could win the franchise’s first championship since 1983?Could Harden and Embiid come together quickly enough, despite having played only 21 regular-season games together?The 76ers beat the Raptors, 131-111, avoiding the pitfalls that have ensnared them before against Toronto. They outrebounded the Raptors. They committed just one turnover in the game’s first 44 minutes. Game 1 offered hope.The Sixers had a muted response to their Game 1 victory against the Raptors: “It’s only one game,” Joel Embiid said.Chris Szagola/Associated PressBut hope has its limits. If they are to prove that this group can succeed where past versions failed, the 76ers must build on Saturday night’s performance. The pressure on Embiid and Harden did not dissipate with the win.“It’s only one game,” Embiid said, repeatedly, during his postgame news conference.Embiid scored 19 points and grabbed 15 rebounds. Harden scored 22 points and had 14 assists. But the real star of the game for the 76ers was Tyrese Maxey, who scored 38 points, making 14 of his 21 shot attempts.Late in the third quarter, Harden saw Maxey beating the Raptors down the court and grabbed the ball with both hands to throw Maxey a perfectly placed bounce pass that went nearly three-quarters the length of the court. Maxey caught it and scored with a reverse layup.That play offered an example of the 21-year-old guard’s value to Philadelphia.“He’s like the perfect player,” Harden said before commending Maxey’s ability to take advantage of times when he and Embiid drew multiple defenders.Maxey couldn’t stop smiling as he checked out for the last time. He sat on the bench with the scoreboard camera fixed on him as the crowd chanted his name over and over. After the game, though, he didn’t bask in the adulation.“The only thing I’m going to remember is us winning,” Maxey said. “That’s all that matters at this point. Now this is in my rearview mirror.”The crowd erupted with what felt like a mixture of joy and relief — Philadelphia’s performance eased the tension in the building. But there remained an acute awareness that winning Game 1 does not mean you will win the series.Harden knows what it is like to lose a series after winning its first game. In fact, it’s happened to him in the past two seasons. Last year, his Nets won Game 1 of a second-round series against Milwaukee before losing the series in seven games. Two years ago, his Rockets won Game 1 of a second-round series against the Lakers before losing the next four games.Fair or not, this postseason will be the start of a referendum on the team that has been assembled in Philadelphia.The Sixers replaced Ben Simmons, who was the first overall pick in the 2016 draft, with Harden in a trade in February.Immediately after the trade, the 76ers started beating up on their opponents. They won the first game Harden played for them, beating the Minnesota Timberwolves by 31 points. Harden scored 27, and when he was in the game, the 76ers outscored the Timberwolves.Philadelphia’s hiccups since Harden’s arrival, though, have been concerning. The Sixers lost to the Nets by 29 points in the first game between the teams since the trade. They lost twice to the Raptors in the final month of the season.Simmons has not played for the Nets yet, but one could argue that the Nets are better poised to make a run in the playoffs than Philadelphia, despite being the seventh seed in the East, because of Kyrie Irving and the transcendent talent of Kevin Durant.Sixers guard Tyrese Maxey was the game’s leading scorer with 38 points. The 21-year-old is in his second N.B.A. season.Chris Szagola/Associated PressHarden was not particularly efficient against the Raptors on Saturday. He made 6 of 17 shots and only 2 of 10 2-pointers. He made his impact in assisting his teammates.“I don’t think we’ve seen really what he can do,” Embiid said. “But he was comfortable tonight: made the right plays, found guys, went to the line a couple times even though they weren’t calling all his fouls for him. But it was good to see him aggressive.”Coach Doc Rivers agreed that Harden seemed comfortable in the offense.“You could tell. You could see it out there,” Rivers said. “He called plays himself.”Rivers attributed that in part to his decision to simplify the team’s playbook and focus on the few plays he knew they could run well.Maxey’s contributions were also critical to their plan. He sat on the podium next to Harden Saturday night and revealed a mischievous grin as Harden spoke about his postseason experiences.“I’ve been in the playoffs 13 years,” Harden said.Maxey interjected to call him old.“Sorry,” Maxey said, as if he were a child caught misbehaving, before looking away and then smiling at the 32-year-old Harden again.“I just wanted to play well,” Harden said. “I wanted to individually make sure I’m doing the right things, do what’s necessary for our team to win. Tonight I feel like individually I had an OK game, but that’s what you got a great team for.”For Game 1 the 76ers got what they needed, but there’s no guarantee that the same formula will be enough as the playoffs progress — or even as this series moves to Game 2 on Monday. More