He’s not wrong.

Joel Embiid’s first matchup against Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Bucks started off slowly. He was 0-3 from the floor in the first half and generally seemed to have a hard time finding his rhythm. Giannis, meanwhile, had his way with everyone guarding him and dropped 21 points in the first 24 minutes (he fouled out early in the 4th, and only added two more points in the second half). Embiid came out on fire on the other side of halftime. He went 9-12 from the free throw line, 1-1 from long-range, and 3-5 from the paint to finish with 22 points, 12 rebounds and five blocks. Is that special? You bet it is:

Dario Saric put up a 17/9/4 line off the bench, while Ilyasova, Covington, Rodriguez, Henderson, Okafor, and Chasson Randle all scored in double digits.

Since December 8th, the Sixers are 9-8. They’re 6-4 in their last 10 games. They’re 5-2 in 2017. Highlights – including some early Giannis ones because he’s that good, and a couple of serious rim-rockers from Embiid – after the jump.