PHILADELPHIA — Joel Embiid is a finalist for Most Valuable Player, but he’s certainly the league’s most irresistible force — a magnet on one end, a plague on the other.
Bodies swarm to him when he has the ball, and eyes are obsessed with him when he doesn’t, opponents desperate to avoid the eclipse he presents defensively.
There’s never too much attention placed on a figure so important, which makes it even more crucial that some strategy, any strategy, works.
Nothing did on Monday.
Embiid’s 31 points and 11 rebounds powered the Philadelphia 76ers to a 2-0 lead over the Toronto Raptors with a 112-97 win at Wells Fargo Center, under the backdrop of Raptors coach Nick Nurse throwing down the gauntlet in the time between Saturday’s series opener and Monday.