Inside Sixers: Joel Embiid imitates Michael Jackson and more from an up-and-down stretch

OKLAHOMA CITY — Robert Covington returned to the visitors’ locker room at the Paycom Center on Saturday night with Michael Jackson’s top hits blasting from his cell phone’s speakers. “Billie Jean” was up first. Then “Beat It.” Then “Thriller.”

The 76ers forward called it one of his go-to playlists, which felt appropriate following his team’s 127-123 victory over the Thunder. And across the room, Joel Embiid also clearly enjoyed the choice of tunes.

The reigning NBA Most Valuable Player mimicked Jackson’s famous leg kick. He thrusted his hips (though in a much more subtle way than when he imitates wrestler Triple H during games). His arms grooved to the beat.

“She’s not going to like [that he was sharing this], but that’s one of the ways I seduce my wife: dancing to Michael Jackson,” Embiid said before unleashing his best singing rendition of, “Beat it! Beat it!”

There was reason for the mood around the Sixers to swing up, even with the wacky ending in Oklahoma City littered with miscues that made the final seconds dicier than they should have been.

» READ MORE: Joel Embiid’s 35 points, clutch free throws push Sixers to victory over Oklahoma City Thunder

The Sixers snapped the Thunder’s six-game winning streak. Embiid narrowly missed a triple-double for the second time in one week. And several complementary players contributed to Saturday’s victory. Even after their most challenging stretch of the early season, when the Sixers lost four out of six games, they sat one game back of first place in the Eastern Conference standings entering Sunday.

Here are some nuggets that have peppered the Sixers’ recent weeks:

When Nick Nurse sat down for Wednesday’s pregame news conference in Minneapolis, the coach called it a blast from the past.

His comment was directed at Ian Whittell, a British freelance journalist who was in town to continue chronicling the success and relationship between Nurse and Timberwolves coach Chris Finch. They both cut their teeth in the British Basketball League, first as rivals, then as pals, then as colleagues with England’s national team.

Nurse said he and Finch, who also has Pennsylvania roots, initially chased each other professionally “like cats and dogs.” But when Nurse threw a postgame party at his home one night in Manchester and invited Finch, they hit it off in the more social setting and began a close friendship.

“We were kind of just two peas in a competing pod,” Nurse said.

Nurse jokingly acknowledged it “stings” when reminded his ties to Finch go back nearly 25 years. He agreed it is “almost unimaginable” that they would both be NBA head coaches today. Yet Nurse is not surprised that, as of Sunday, Finch’s Timberwolves sat atop the Western Conference.

“He’s always taken whatever team he’s had and figured out how to use the pieces the right way,” Nurse said. “… I’m really, really biased, but I probably thought he was going to be really good.”

During Nurse’s pregame press conference in Atlanta on Nov. 17, a reporter asked what it has been like for the first-year Sixers coach to be dropped into such a passionate sports market — especially given the success of the Phillies and Eagles.

Nurse initially quipped that sports dominates conversations because there are “not too many people talking about what musical’s coming to town next week” (though don’t tell that to president of basketball operations Daryl Morey, a known Broadway devotee). An example: Nurse said that his first-grade son “came home the first week of school and said he didn’t like the Cowboys.”

» READ MORE: Shake Milton thankful Sixers helped him ‘figure out how to stick’ in NBA

“We’d never really talked about the NFL before,” Nurse said. “So that part of Philly is alive and well, too. … I love the energy. Everybody really is switched on to it, for sure.”

The night before Thanksgiving, the food-related pregame conversation inside the visitors’ locker room in Minnesota had nothing to do with favorite side dishes or pie hot takes.

Instead, a collection of players and staff debated what they put on a cheesesteak. KJ Martin, who is still new to Philly after he was acquired in the blockbuster James Harden trade, sparked the discussion.

He wondered how others felt about mustard and jalapeños in the sandwich. Tyrese Maxey, meanwhile, shared that his ideal order includes ketchup, mayonnaise, hot peppers and American cheese. Mo Bama goes with just cheese (but not whiz). Danuel House is out completely on cheesesteaks.

Marcus Morris Sr. has been making a recent case for rotation minutes. He started at center against the Timberwolves, when Embiid was out with hip soreness. And he played 14 minutes in Oklahoma City, as part of a lineup alongside Maxey, Covington, Patrick Beverley, and Paul Reed that Nurse said he liked to begin the fourth quarter.

“I just hope that I get an opportunity to show them that I’m made to play in Philadelphia,” Morris told The Inquirer after the loss in Minnesota.

Following the trade from the Clippers, Morris publicly expressed gratitude to play in his home city. And despite the limited on-court action before this week, Morris has already reconnected with his roots. He said he was recently on 69th Street, partaking in a food giveaway.

“I know the places to go. I know the people,” Morris said. “Just seeing people that know me without basketball, I think that’s just the biggest thing is the community stuff. Being able to be present and being from Philadelphia, I think that’s the best part.

“I want to be in the community, and I want to help make change and I want to be the face of that.”

Two successful coach’s challenges by Nurse were significant in the win over the Thunder. The staffer in charge of advising Nurse when to call timeout and twirl his index finger? John Corbacio, an assistant and head video coordinator.

Nurse particularly appreciates that Corbacio also provides information on why to challenge, such as on the sequence late in Saturday’s second quarter that was originally called an offensive foul (and the fourth personal) on Maxey. Corbacio was adamant that Isaiah Joe had slid over after Maxey was already airborne.

“[The official] went and looked,” Nurse said, “and that’s exactly what they saw and called.”

Still, Nurse recognizes that the in-game responsibility for Corbacio is “super stressful.” In response, Nurse aims to empower Corbacio to make decisions quickly and emphatically.

“I never get mad at him when we’re wrong,” Nurse said. “You’ve got to make a lot of decisions in this game as a coach, and you mess a bunch up. So I try to give him as much confidence as I can to do it — and do it with some confidence — and live with the results.”