Philadelphia 76ers: Top 20 plays of the 2018-19 NBA season
By Derek Hryn
2. Joel Embiid denies Serge Ibaka‘s dunk attempt
Serge Ibaka spent the early half of his 10-year career browbeating opponents on the defensive end, most notably in the 2011-12 season, playing next to Kevin Durant, James Harden and Russell Westbrook on the Oklahoma City Thunder. He gradually enforced his presence within that star-studded group, simply by making defense his priority and inaugurating his offensive craft later. It worked tremendously for his career.
A player who once posted an astounding 3.7 blocks per night in a season got a taste of his own medicine against a University of Kansas product that Bill Simmons once compared him to during the 2014 NBA Draft.
As a playoff series heats up, the plays on both ends of the floor tend to draw more eyeballs. In this case, Joel Embiid inhaled a strong dunk attempt from Ibaka, which is precisely what the Sixers needed to slow a steamrolling Toronto Raptors run during Game 4.
https://twitter.com/NBA/status/1125138384719101957
Embiid essentially made Ibaka more of a non-factor as this series escalated, limiting the Congo native to seven straight games with single-digit rebounds.