The Philadelphia 76ers won against Indiana thanks to Joel Embiid ultra-dominant, keeping a chance to finish No. 3 seed in the playoffs in the East, Friday, April 8 in the NBA, where Ja Morant has succeeded in his return after nine missed games in the success of Memphis against New Orleans.

The Miami team is assured of finishing as the No. 1 seed and thus having the advantage of the floor at least until the finals, Milwaukee (2nd), Boston (3rd) and Philadelphia (4th) are in a handkerchief.

Each has a game to play on Sunday, April 10, to determine their final position, knowing that at this stage the Bucks have a better record (51-30) than their two rivals (50-31).

Philadelphia can finish 3rd. To do so, they will need a win against Detroit combined with a Celtics loss at Memphis, second in the Western Conference.

In any case, Doc Rivers’ team did the job against Indiana and as a good captain, Embiid led the way by crushing everything in his path, with 41 points in the bag, 14/17 in shots, and 20 rebounds.

It should be noted that the Cameroonian pivot, already in the lead (30.6 pts average) is almost guaranteed to finish top scorer of the season, ahead of Giannis Antetokounmpo (29.9 pts). What he hopes to be an additional argument in the race for the MVP trophy, against the “Greek Freak” and the titleholder Nikola Jokic (Denver).




“I always said that every night I wanted to dominate,” Embiid said about it, his coach judging it “methodical and historical”. “Whatever qualifiers you want to give him, that’s what he’s been,” he insisted.

The star James Harden has well supported (22 pts, 14 assists) the leader of the Sixers by playing just, the team has also shown overall very skillful (55.6%).

On the Memphis side, the phenomenon Ja Morant was back after having to treat a painful right knee. And he did it in a very nice way against the Pelicans, plucked (141-114), with a spectacular dunk and counter, showing that his springs were working well.

Ja Morant finished with 21 points and 9 assists in 27 minutes. Dillon Brooks (23 pts) was the best scorer of the Grizzlies, assured for a while to be seeded N.2 in the West, without knowing yet if their opponent in the first round of the playoffs will be Minnesota or the Clippers, opposed in the play-off.

The loser of this game will have a second chance to qualify, against the winner of the other playoff between New Orleans and San Antonio, this time to challenge Phoenix.