Trust (from) The Process: Joel Embiid finally trusts his teammates so the Sixers can reach the NBA Finals

Joel Embiid has been in the NBA for nine years. He’s carried the Sixers to the playoffs the last six seasons in a row. He’s never made it past the second round, often because he’s tried to do too much, too often. He’s lost his composure, and he’s lost big games.

He realizes now that for him to finally reach the Eastern Conference finals, he has to trust someone else besides The Process.

That’s what it will take to keep James Harden in-house and to keep Doc Rivers on the bench: Trust, from the man who calls himself “The Process.”

Trust that, when defenses swarm him, his teammates will score if he gives them the chances. Saturday, in Game 1 of the first round of the playoffs, Embiid gave them the chances. They beat the Nets by 20, 121-101. As he so often does with 29.5 inches of pebbled leather in his hands, he made it all look so easy. How?

“Just keeping it simple. Every single possession, they just kept doubling. Didn’t matter where I was: halfcourt, three-point line, in the post,” Embiid said. “I gotta trust in my teammates. Gotta make the simple pass. Simple plays. We took advantage of that scheme.”

The Sixers weren’t sure Embiid would take advantage. They weren’t sure he would trust them. After all, he didn’t lead the NBA in scoring by throwing the ball to P.J. Tucker. On Saturday, he threw it to Tucker and everybody else.

“He was just giving it up early,” Tucker said. “In the season, he pushed it a little more, to go score and get fouled. He doesn’t have to work that hard. Make people pay. It’s playoffs.”

It was a beautiful brand of basketball to watch, unless, that is, you happen to play for another NBA team. That’s because, if Embiid plays with this degree of patience, with this measure of intelligence, and, at this level of maturity, there’s no reason why the 76ers cannot contend for the NBA title.

Yes, they can beat the Bucks. Yes, they can beat the Celtics.

» READ MORE: What’s next on Joel Embiid’s to-do list? A title. ‘That’s the ultimate goal’

Why not? Embiid is the NBA’s best two-way big man since Hakeem Olajuwon or a young Tim Duncan. He’s fed by James Harden, who this season transformed from a scorer who was playing point guard into a scoring point guard. He is flanked by TNT — Tobias Harris and Tyrese Maxey — a pair of wings who can slash, spot up, and pull up. He is backed by Tucker, a player so tough he would’ve been a hero if he played in the Central Division in the 1990s. Embiid might even have a bench behind him.

None of this matters unless Embiid understands the game. In Game 1 of the first round Saturday, as Nets coach Jacque Vaughn sent waves of double-teams at Embiid, the big man looked like a fellow who completely understands the game ... finally. What happened?

“We work on it,” Rivers said. “He gets it at the elbow, where he can see it. He works on it. And maturity. It’s good for him to see how much he can do with the pass to help his teammates.”

Embiid finished with relatively pedestrian numbers: 26 points, five rebounds, three assists, and two blocked shots. Those stats mattered less than this one:

Two turnovers. Two.

That’s less than half of his turnover average the past two seasons, when he gave it away 4.2 times per game. If Embiid had been careless, things would have been much less comfortable. The Sixers are 7-11 in the last 18 playoff games in which Embiid has turned the ball over at least four times.

The Sixers dominated the offensive boards, 14-5, and Tucker had five of those rebounds, but even that he credited to the attention Embiid demanded.

“If they’re gonna double, the glass is open,” Tucker said.

Embiid was not careless. He was efficient. Harden hit seven three-pointers and the Sixers finished with 21, a franchise playoff record. Tobias Harris scored 21 points. But about half of those threes and half of Harris’ points were made easier because the Nets were desperate to blanket Embiid.

Harris was good. The Beard was great. The Process was better.

Embiid wasn’t perfect: He almost turned the ball over attacking a double-team on on first Sixers possession, and you wondered: Is this going to be another eight-turnover night like he had in Game 7 of the 2021 second-round loss to the Hawks, when Ben Simmons didn’t dunk and Embiid kept panicking?

No, it was not. Midway through the first quarter Royce O’Neale left Harris to double-team Embiid at the left elbow. Embiid fired to Harris, who hit a three. Mikal Bridges left Georges Niang a few minutes later, and Niang dropped a trey. Tucker missed a layup and a three-pointer set up by passes from Embiid while doubled. Embiid earned a hockey assist on another three from Harris in the third quarter.

“Nobody can guard him one-on-one. So we create space,” Tucker said. “We take whatever they give us. We know how to attack out of double-teams.”

» READ MORE: What makes Sixers forward P.J. Tucker so special? Let his former teammates and coaches tell you.

Knowing how to do it and convincing your best player — the MVP favorite; the man who coopted the catchphrase that nourished Sixers fans in the wastelands of losing — those are two very different things. One little word, one terrifying concept, can mean everything for Embiid and the Sixers.

“Trust,” Rivers said. “Trust in his teammates.”

It’s the only way The Process can win.