Jahlil Okafor had not played since February 12. Some of it was due to injury and illness —nothing serious— and most of his time on the bench was DNP/CD, that is “Did not play, coach’s decision.”
Then, Sunday, he got the call. His old Philly teammate and practice partner, Joel Embiid, was roasting the Nets in the post and Kenny Atkinson thought that Okafor, with a bigger body and more experience than Jarrett Allen, might be effective.
And he was.
With 3:15 left in the second quarter, Okafor checked in and made three consecutive stops against Embiid.