Good morning. Let’s basketball.

The Bravo; Titian (maybe?); 1515-20

Joel Embiid did, in fact, play on Tuesday, getting the start for a Philadelphia 76ers team trying to escape the play-in with very little margin for error and missing Tyrese Maxey. The result: 24 points on 6/14 shooting (12/12 from the line), 6 rebounds, 7 assists, 3 steals, 6 turnovers in 29 minutes and most importantly, the win, thanks in large part to a genius steal Embiid had when defending Josh Giddey in isolation up one.

The visiting Oklahoma City Thunder were missing their two best players, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams, and that went a long way for Philly, because it became quite evident throughout the game that for as great as Chet Holmgren is as a rookie, he is a rookie, and for as great Lu Dort and Isaiah Joe and the other Thunderians are as role players, they are role players. The Thunder’s offense just doesn’t crackle without SGA and Williams. It fizzes.

The Sixers’ offense fizzed a lot, too. Embiid’s conditioning is, as you would expect with a player coming off a 2-month knee injury recovery, not quite there. He was winded a bit more than three minutes into the game, and after every 3-minute spurt thereafter. The lift isn’t there on his jumpers or around the rim. Those factors led to much less fluidity in his usual motions — and fluidity has never exactly been his calling card. The basketball IQ, skill level and size are all still there, of course. (Notably, the foul-drawing is still there, officiating changes be damned.) Embiid immediately found beautiful synergy with newcomer Kyle Lowry; that fit like a warm slipper from hello. The synergy with Buddy Hield will take a little more time, but looks promising. Perhaps most promising was how quick and confident struggling Tobias Harris was in shooting off Embiid feeds early in the game.

Maxey’s listed injury is hip tightness; that doesn’t sound like something that will keep him out much longer. The Sixers offense needs Maxey to be himself against most opponents, especially while Embiid ramps up. As I wrote Tuesday, the Sixers need to go 7-1 while the Pacers go 2-4 and the Heat go 4-4. It’s a lot to ask. Well, one of the tougher tests on Philly’s schedule is off the board now, though Miami beat one of its tougher opponents (New York), too. Playoff Status (the best postseason probabilities machine in terms of simplicity) gives Philadelphia a 10% chance of escaping the play-in after Tuesday’s action. We’re not quite at the stage in which Sixers fans should start scoreboard-watching the Knicks, Magic and Cavaliers … but maybe in a couple days, once Maxey is back and Embiid is a little more comfortable, maybe then it will be appropriate.

I’ll tell you this: it’s definitely appropriate for Celtics and Bucks fans to be rooting for the Sixers to get out of the play-in.

Scores

Bucks 113, Wizards 117 — Milwaukee, without Damian Lillard, loses to a team whose bench rotation was Tristan Vukcevic, Johnny Davis, Eugene Omoruyi and Jared Butler. Doc Rivers has some notes.

“We don't bring the necessary professionalism, seriousness, on the road,” Rivers said. “That's something that we can fix. That's something that we're going to have to fix.”

Okay. Playoffs start in two weeks.

Lakers 128, Raptors 111 — Fourteen straight Ls for T-Dot. The franchise record is 17. Alert the historians. The Raptors’ next three games: Wolves, Bucks (in Milwaukee, so take your time, Doc) and … the Wizards. You wanted late-season stakes? Here are your late-season stakes.

Anyways, for the second time in his career, Jaxson Hayes busted out an in-game East Bay funk.

Knicks 99, Heat 109 — Josh Hart on Jimmy Butler’s typical calendar before the game:

"Jimmy kind of does side quests during the year until about April," Hart said. "Then he starts locking in. I'm sure people are going to see that maniac competitive side now that he's done with the side quests and he's on to the main quest."

And sure enough, the Heat beat the Knicks. Jimmy was good but Terry Rozier was great.

Thunder 105, Sixers 109

Rockets 106, Timberwolves 113 — And just like that, Houston hits a two-game skid. Big three-point shooting differential, big Naz Reid game and much-needed contributions from Jordan McLaughlin. The highlight, though, comes from the Rockets’ side.

I wonder what it’s like to fly?

Cavaliers 129, Jazz 113 — No Donovan Mitchell in Salt Lake, but Cleveland shredded from the start. The Jazz have lost 10 straight with an average margin of -14. They were 22-20 and in the No. 9 seed on January 15. They are 7-27 since.

The Cavaliers are now just two games behind the Bucks in the loss column and one game ahead of each of the Magic and Knicks. Playoff Status is giving the Cavs a 20% probability of getting No. 2.

Spurs 105, Nuggets 110 — I don’t want to overreact here, because a) the Nuggets won and b) Nikola Jokic had 42 points. But Victor Wembanyama did give him a few things to think about. I’d love to see this rivalry blossom.

We have reached the “NBA.com is now just using Wembanyama box scores as headlines” stage of the collective astonishment at this dude. (Yes, he was two assists and one block from a quadruple-double against the defending champs and best player in the league.)

Denver, Minnesota and OKC are now all tied in the loss column (23) for the No. 1 seed.

Clippers 95, Kings 109 — No Kawhi Leonard, and it showed. L.A.’s offense couldn’t get any flow. Some of the best defense the Kings have played all year. (Sacramento is No. 12 in defense since the All-Star break. Keon Ellis as a starter has helped quite a lot.) Domantas Sabonis with 22-20-9.

Mavericks 100, Warriors 104 — Helluva win for the Warriors, who are getting hot at the perfect moment.

I’m not sure what Golden State will do this summer, but Chris Paul has been a big part of when the team’s been good this year. Draymond Green has been a big part of when the team’s been good for the past decade. (He was spectacular down the stretch.) Andrew Wiggins has been a pivot piece. It’s hard business! Golden State can’t possibly keep them all … and the kids … and upgrade … right?

Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving (an efficient 57 combined) did their jobs on offense, albeit with a few too many turnovers (9). The rest of the team shot just 6/21 from deep and the Mavs lost the rebounding battle, didn’t win the turnover battle by nearly enough and didn’t get to the line.

Here’s a moment to update the relevant playoff races since this game was so important. Dallas misses a chance to gain on the No. 4 Clippers, and sits tied with New Orleans with 30 losses in the Nos. 5 and 6 slots. Sacramento and Phoenix each have 31 losses. Further down, the Warriors (34 losses) create some space with the Rockets (37 losses) and remain one behind the Lakers (33 losses) for No. 9. Playoff Status has dropped Houston’s likelihood of making the play-in down to 2%.

Schedule

More important games! All times Eastern.

Blazers at Hornets, 7 — Portland is due
Lakers at Wizards, 7
Pistons at Hawks, 7:30
Thunder at Celtics, 7:30, ESPN — will be interesting to see how seriously the C’s take this one, given that they continue to act quite serious unless facing the Hawks
Pacers at Nets, 7:30
Grizzlies at Bucks, 8
Raptors at Timberwolves, 8
Magic at Pelicans, 8 — important game!
Cavaliers at Suns, 10, ESPN — important game!

Links

A Jazz fan hit three triples in 40 seconds to win a car … but the arena host claimed the third made shot came after the buzzer, which means no car, which was not received well by the crowd. The Jazz ended up giving the guy a car.

Joel Embiid signs with Skechers to be the face of its basketball division. Today I learned that there is no “T” in Skechers. Also that they have a basketball division.

Seerat Sohi with six questions about the Jontay Porter scandal.

New Mind the Game from J.J. Redick and LeBron is out this morning.

A big HELL YEAH to Stockton Kings head coach Lindsay Harding for being named the G League’s Coach of the Year. Before she took over the G League team, she was an assistant in Sacramento; everything players and other coaches said were pure raves. Will she get NBA head coaching interviews this summer?

I had forgotten about the infamous Pitchfork review of Jet’s second album — which was viral on a pre-Twitter internet — but I am glad Nate Rogers at The Ringer gave it the deep dive it deserves.

That’s it for Wednesday. Be excellent to each other.