Joel Embiid appears to keep getting better and better. Certainly the team can't be far behind

PHILADELPHIA — On the surface, it wasn't a game-changing play or one that many would have even remembered at the conclusion of the Sixers win in Toronto on Monday night. But no doubt it went a long way into the future thinking of coach Nick Nurse and undoubtedly some of his players.

We've seen it many, many times. Joel Embiid with the ball at the top of the key, giving a handoff to rookie VJ Edgecombe. On this particular play, Edgecombe received the ball going to his left and both Raptor defenders decided to jump the ball. The rookie made the right play in giving the ball quickly back to Embiid, still stationed at the top of the key. Without hesitation, Embiid avoided an on-coming defender, dribbled once through the lane, rose and dunked the ball over a pretty unwilling Toronto defender.

That move came during a lopsided first half in which Embiid shimmied his way to an open jumper more than a couple of times; hit an open three; participated in a successful give-and-go down the lane; bullied his way down thew land for a successful fadeaway; posted up and dribble drove in for more points.

The glimpses of the 7-foot-2, oft-injured center returning close to his MVP form are becoming more and more frequent as Nurse and the team still try to figure out just who they are and how they fit now 39 games into the season after Wednesday's blowout 133-107 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers at the Xfinity Mobile Arena.

Consider this: Embiid has played in 10 of the last 12 games for the Sixers, a very good stretch of health for him. During those 10 games, he's averaged 26.9 points and 7.3 rebounds in 32.5 minutes. He's also shot 52.5% from the floor and drained 88.1% of his free throws.

In the 11 games he played before this stretch, Embiid averaged 20.5 points and 6.6 rebounds in 26.1 minutes. He shot just 42.1% from the floor and made 81.8 % of his free throws.

The numbers are a result of his stamina, strength, quickness and confidence coming back. You can just see it in so many phases of his game. And it is a toy that Nurse is happy to play with as much as he can.

"As he's playing more and starting to move better and playing better, I think he's a ways, he would tell you where he's at, but we can do some different things," said Nurse.  

"We'd like to move him around more, and we're getting to a little bit of that, different parts of the court. When he starts driving the ball and he starts rolling to the rim, that's when he's at his best. He's doing that more. Again, that opens up a lot for us, the other guys. The bigger thing for me is that he's going to the rim, there's some post-ups available. There's some shot-blocking starting to reemerge. I think he's a three-time All-Defensive player, so there's a big part of that, little bits of that, are starting to show up again, and if those things keep going that's good stuff."

In Wednesday's loss to the Cavs, Embiid flashed some of those things that Nurse alluded to, and also some of the areas where he is still rusty. There was a smooth jumper in the second quarter to cut Cleveland's lead to 49-41, then a great block at the other end on the next possession. A driving layup that cut the lead to six. And then, with the Cavaliers still leading by six, a dive from Embiid to try and save a loose ball that left him four rows into the stands. Gasps from the sellout crowd soon turned to cheers as Embiid quickly rose to his feet and hustled back tto the defensive end.

It all appears to be coming for him. The fans see it. His teammates feel it and Embiid is almost ready to admit it.

"I'm doing better," Embiid said after his 20 points in 24 minutes effort Wednesday. "I still feel like that I'm not close to where I want to be, yet. It's a progress every single day. I feel pretty good so I've just got to keep putting the work in and get there."

As for the dive into the stands?

"That may be stupid, but at that time I felt like we needed that," he said. "I felt like I had a chance to save the ball. In that moment every possession mattered. But we shouldn't have put ourselves in that position in the first place."

Figuring the rotation puzzle with new players combined with the limited availability of Embiid will always be the challenge for Nurse, especially when you consider Embiid has barely played with some other regulars such as Paul George, Edgecombe, Kelly Oubre and Quentin Grimes, to name a few. But as he refines his game and stays free of injury, playing alongside Embiid comes pretty easy to teammates.

"Just from when I got here you could tell, from when I watched him when I was younger, it wasn't as good as I know he could be last year," second-year guard Jared McCain said. "Coming into this year, he slimmed out and got really healthy and he's just coming along. He's an MVP. Obviously he's a great talent. Just seeing him on the court being able to do the spin moves and dunking and just playing hard. It's something that he wasn't able to do because of the injury. It's hard physically and mentally. Seeing him be able to get over that and playing the way he's playing right now is really cool. 

"When he gets doubled, it makes the game so much easier for everybody else. Playing with a talent like that, it's just cool to see him every day, going to work in the gym and getting healthy the way he is. He's getting there and he's doing an excellent job, being the leader that he is. When you see him on the court do the stuff he does it just looks so easy and effortless."

It's not there, yet. But the signs are starting to emerge more and more each game for Embiid. Yes, guarded optimism has surrounded him in this town for a few years now because of injuries. But if the trajectory of his play maintains and the amount of missed games keeps being limited, who knows what this may lead to.