The fourth quarter — it’s when you’re most likely to see Joel Embiid wave goodbye to a player who fouls out of a game, when Embiid stands with his arms raised egging on the crowd’s cheers.
It’s easy to get caught up in the late-game delights and believe that Embiid is a dominant fourth-quarter player. Embiid himself said that he goes into the fourth quarter thinking that he needs to take over.
“In the fourth quarter, it doesn’t matter if I had a slow first quarter or a big first quarter, I’ve got to take over,” Embiid said Thursday after a win in New York.