Sixers-Jazz takeaways: A lie becomes the truth of Joel Embiid’s big night, mojo matters, as does making foul shots

Joel Embiid’s lie played a role in the victory on a night he finished with a career-high 59 points, 11 rebounds, eight assists and a career-tying seven blocks. Matisse Thybulle has fully regained his mojo. And the Utah Jazz need to improve their foul shooting.

Below is my look at three things that stood out during the Sixers’ 105-98 victory over the Jazz Sunday night at the Wells Fargo Center.

Embiid did just about anything he wanted in the fourth quarter of his magical night. That’s when the All-Star center scored 26 of his team’s 27 points. He also blocked five shots, grabbed three rebounds and was a plus-11 while playing all but 57 seconds of the quarter.

But it was his lie with 20.5 seconds remaining that aided in the victory.

As Lauri Markkanen stepped to the foul line with his team down five points, Embiid yapped in the Utah forward’s ear to break up his concentration.

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“Just a little trash talk, trying to get in his head,” the Sixers center said. “I was just talking. I kind of lied, because Arthur was already sleeping.”

Embiid was referring to his 2-year-old son, Arthur Embiid.

“So I was like, ‘I got to put Arthur to sleep,’ " he said to Markkanen. " ‘So you better miss those free throws. We don’t need to go to overtime.’ I did lie, because Arthur, he goes to bed. She [Anne de Paula, Embiid’s fiancée and Arthur’s mother] doesn’t play around. Every single day, 7:30 he has to be in the bed.

“I just told him, I had to put Arthur to sleep and make sure we didn’t go to overtime.”

Embiid empathically celebrated in front of Markkanen after he missed the first free throw. Then Tyrese Maxey grabbed the defensive rebound after Markkanen missed the second.

Sunday marked Thybulle’s best defensive performance of the season.

The guard making his second consecutive start recorded season high of five steals and six rebounds to go with two points.

“I’m starting to feel like myself, again,” Thybulle said. “Some of that has to do with just feeling more confident in my role.”

He lacked confidence because of his not being in the rotation at the beginning of the season. Then once he started playing, Thybulle didn’t want to do anything wrong that would take away his minutes.

“Now, the more consistent [minutes he receives], I feel like I have a spot with solidified value on this team,” he said. “And realistically, it’s just getting back to feeling like myself and some of the coaches have had a lot to do with that, actually.”

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Assistant coach Brian Adams made Thybulle more tailor-made video edits of who he would guard in a given game. The video also showed how he should guard them, and what to look for while they try to score.

“And I think that’s just given me the confidence to go out and play at my own pace.”

While the Jazz improved after intermission, they had to know their foul shooting, along with an inability to stop Embiid, was a reason for their setback.

Not only did Markkanen miss two clutch ones late, Utah made just 13 of 23 free throws for the game. But they were 5-for-13 in the first half.

For the season, the Jazz ranked 26th in the league at 76.7%.

Utah Center Jarred Vanderbilt felt Embiid got some favorable calls that aided him on his career-high scoring night.

Embiid made 19 of 28 field foals and 20 of 24 free throws.

“When anybody’s in a zone like that, it’s tough to stop,” Vanderbilt said. “He had a lot of favorable calls, too. So he shot a lot of free throws and it helped get him in a rhythm. So he’s seeing the ball go through the hoop a lot of times. At that point, it’s tough when somebody sees the ball go through that many times. They’re shooting it in an ocean at that point.

“I feel like we tried to make some adjustments late, but at that point, it was kinda a little too late. He was already in that zone and it was tough.”

Embiid gets this for the second consecutive night for dominating on both sides of the ball.

Unfortunately for Paul Reed, the Sixers backup center get this for the second straight game. He failed to score while missing both of his shot attempts in 4 minutes, 45 seconds of action. He did block a shot and grab a rebound. but mostly looked out of sync. He was benched in favor of Montrezl Harrell as the backup center in the second half.

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