As usual, Jarrett Allen did not back down from the fight. He even countered Joel Embiid, and tried to take him away from the circle, but the Cameroonian has perhaps never been so strong, or sure of his strength.
The ultimate proof is of course this poster which will go around the web in the next few days. The Cameroonian has indeed just caused the fault of his opponent under the circle, and seemed to have hurt his back on the action. He grimaces, goes to shoot his throws, scores the first but misses the second. But Georges Niang then takes the rebound, gives the ball back to his pivot and the latter slams a monstrous dunk on Jarrett Allen!
It is the symbol of this match, with a Joel Embiid who single-handedly crushed Cleveland’s talented racquet. Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley failed to contain his power, especially since the Philadelphia player can also rely on his technique, with a game of support and quality of shooting rare for a pivot of this size.
His final line of stats (40 points at 11/22 shooting, including 4/5 from afar, 14 rebounds, 10 assists and 3 steals) is crazy and illustrates quite well the domination displayed by Joel Embiid.
And as he reads better and better the two-man takes, in particular to find a Matisse Thybulle who loves to cut in the back of the defense when it throws himself on him, the Cameroonian compiles his 4th “triple-double” in his career.
In addition, he allows himself to put on a show on the counter-attack, to end with the basket and the fault…
