76ers lifting minutes restriction for Joel Embiid against Wizards was worth risking

Originally, Brett Brown wanted to keep Joel Embiid’s minutes in the teens during the season opener for the Philadelphia 76ers, which obviously didn’t happen.

Philadelphia 76ers fans have every reason in the world to be excited about what’s in store for this team during the 2017-18 season, because despite Wednesday’s loss to the Washington Wizards, this team proved to be capable of competing with some of the top contenders in the league. And while there were numerous takeaways worth mentioning from Ben Simmons finally making his NBA debut in the regular season to Robert Covington connecting seven times from three-point range, the one story everyone is talking about is Joel Embiid.

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Prior to Wednesday’s contest, there was some frustration surrounding the Sixers star center after Brett Brown made it clear his plan was for Embiid’s minutes to be in the teens, although the head coach did claim his decision would be based off the flow of the game. At first, Embiid was frustrated over hearing this from Brown since he wanted to play as many minutes as possible, but at the end of the day, everything seemed to work out well for both parties.

Thanks to Philadelphia keeping it close the entire game, Brown was willing to use Embiid more in the lineup since the team was in position to win, and would go on to play 27 minutes while finishing with 18 points along with 13 rebounds. Once again, Embiid continues to show just how much of a difference maker he can be for the Sixers when in the lineup, and even though the original plan was a low minutes restriction, this performance is certainly something to build off moving forward.

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In a way, this loss by Philadelphia could even be considered a win when looking at how this seemed like the first time in forever Brown’s squad actually looked like a contender instead of a team heading towards another top draft pick. Of course, the real question moving forward will be whether Brown continues to take the risk of letting Embiid exceed his minutes restrictions, but after seeing how dominant he was at times against the Wizards, that shouldn’t even be a question if it’s going to help the Sixers win games.