For Sixers, a comfortable Joel Embiid changes everything

Joel Embiid looked comfortable Friday, which might have been the most important part of the night.

The points came too. Thirty-nine of them, in a win over Indiana that felt like a reminder of what the 76ers look like when their franchise center is upright, aggressive, and not thinking about his knees every step down the floor.

Coach Nick Nurse pointed to the work. The practices. The individual sessions. The variety in how Embiid scored. All of it added up to a version of Embiid that has not always been available lately.

Embiid said the spacing between games has helped. One game, two days off. Repeat. It is not glamorous, but it is working.

That alone changes the tone around Philadelphia. The Sixers do not need vintage Embiid every night. They just need him consistently functional, which sounds like faint praise until you remember how fragile the equation has felt.

There was another quiet adjustment, too. Paul George has increasingly handled the ball, operating as a point forward and easing pressure across the lineup. It is not a headline-grabbing tweak, but it matters.

When Embiid is right and the offense has options, the Sixers look less like a waiting room and more like a threat.