CLEVELAND, Ohio -- On paper, it looked like a mismatch.
Evan Mobley is a wiry power forward -- at this stage of his career anyway. Listed at 6-foot-11 and 215 pounds, Mobley was forced to shift over one position again Wednesday night because of Jarrett Allen’s achy back that sidelined the All-Star center for a third consecutive game.
Joel Embiid is brawny, forceful, imposing perennial MVP candidate -- a 7-foot, 280-pound monster whose habitat is the paint.
Advantage: Embiid.
Or not.
The center matchup was anything but lopsided as the 21-year-old Mobley stood his ground and played part in one of Embiid’s worst nights.
“He’s a competitor,” Cavaliers coach J.B. Bickerstaff said following the 113-85 win over the Philadelphia 76ers. “I think sometimes his calm demeanor can fool us. But I don’t know anybody who has the fire that burns hotter than his when it comes to competition. He’s not afraid. He’s one to take any challenge we put in front of him. Embiid is MVP-caliber, one of the best centers in the game, and Evan went out and accepted the challenge.”
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Mobley wasn’t the only one. After the game, the typically humble and reserved youngster referred to it as a “team effort.” Mobley specifically pointed to Bickerstaff’s brilliant gameplan, Mamadi Diakite’s relentless activity, Dean Wade’s scrappiness and Robin Lopez’s veteran savvy.
“All about team defense,” Mobley told cleveland.com. “Everybody helped off the correct guys and we executed our gameplan. That’s what helped us against him and got us the win. Our main goal is to protect the paint always, no matter who is out there.”
Entering the game averaging 32.1 points and riding a string of five straight 30-point performances, Embiid scored just 19 points on 6 of 16 (37.5%) from the field in 29 minutes. With the game out of hand, Embiid didn’t see the floor in the fourth quarter. It’s his second-lowest point total and second-worst shooting percentage of the season, after being limited to just 15 points on 28.6% earlier this season in Milwaukee.
According to NBA.com matchup data, Mobley spent the most time guarding Embiid. On those possessions, Embiid went 2 of 6 from the field.
“I think he did really well,” Darius Garland said when asked about Mobley’s defense against Embiid. “Just battling and competing with the MVP candidate. Shows his growth, toughness and desire to be one of the best defenders in this league. He just took the challenge and stood up to it.”
Early Wednesday morning at the team’s shootaround, Bickerstaff and his assistants devised -- and installed -- an Embiid-specific plan. Not easy with defensive linchpin Allen unavailable. It was time to get creative. That’s when Bickerstaff also made a stunning lineup call, going with little-used Diakite, who has logged more minutes in the G League than with the Cavs.
Bickerstaff wanted the defense to trap and rotate more, flying around in the halfcourt, sending multiple bodies, trying to make Embiid as uncomfortable as possible. Given the available personnel, there was no sense in trying to match Embiid’s power. The Cavs needed to play to their frontcourt strengths -- speed, athleticism, quickness, length, active hands. Diakite personifies that. Same with Mobley.
Early on, Embiid countered the strategy by becoming a facilitator, assisting on Philadelphia’s first three made baskets. But the Cavs preferred that over him bullying leaner defenders inside.
Cleveland’s liveliness, incessant swarming, paint-packing, physicality and persistence seemed to frustrate the skilled 7-footer who often settled for mid-range shots instead of working inside. Embiid averages 7.3 post-ups, with 67.3% of his points coming on those touches. Against Cleveland’s scheme Wednesday night, nearly half of his shot attempts were jumpers. According to tracking data, he didn’t have any post-ups.
Help, communication and attention to detail were all paramount.
“Team effort,” Caris LeVert said. “Obviously, he’s a great player so you’ve gotta have all five guys on the floor locked into what he’s doing. I think we did that early on, kind of frustrated him a little bit, got him out of his game. Carried that on for 48 minutes.”
Team effort is the right phrase. But Mobley anchored it. That’s his responsibility when Allen is out. He needs to be the mouthpiece and nucleus. He needs to show why Bickerstaff constantly refers to him as a Defensive Player of the Year contender. Mobley did Wednesday night. These are the matchups that are supposed to be problematic for him. And yet, he was arguably the most impactful player on the floor, outshining Philly’s star -- at both ends -- and showing the total package.
Mobley finished with 16 points on 8 of 10 from the field to go with eight rebounds, three assists and one block in just 24 minutes. He soared for lobs, smoothly canned a 3-pointer and even had a breathtaking coast-to-coast, Euro-stepping layup around Embiid that seemed to surprise everyone but his teammates and coaches who have come to expect the amazing.
“The sky is the limit for Evan,” Bickerstaff said. “I think we’ve seen that multiple times. There’s not a lot on the floor that he’s not capable of. The more and more you watch him, and I think we’ve seen it, he’s been so much more assertive. He’s been hunting opportunities. When you allow his skillset with the hunter’s mentality, he’s gonna be hard to deal with. We don’t want him to be put in a box and short the dimensions on his game. We want him to flourish because we believe that’s what he’s capable of being.”
“We tell him all the time he can do whatever he wants on the offensive end because we know what he does on the defensive end, and he has to get rewarded for that,” Garland added. “When he goes to his isolation game and pullups off the dribble, we love that for him. I think we see him make it all the time in practice and we want him to start being more aggressive and being assertive in his offensive game. Just believe in it because his package is crazy.”
That’s part of Mobley’s evolution. Taking the next step into stardom, a place teammates and opponents believe he is destined to go, not only requires consistency but it also means illuminating in the grandest showdowns, against the league’s best bigs -- even if that requires a shift to center for a tussle with a stronger, bulkier and more seasoned behemoth.
“He’s got a chance. I like him a lot. I think he has a lot of potential,” Embiid said of Mobley. “I think he can become one of these great big men in the league that have so much skill. You talk about, who are the best? (Nikola) Jokic. Karl Towns. I think he can be that good. He just needs to have more opportunities. That’s what I see in them. It’s all about opportunity. If he gets a chance to keep making mistakes and learning from it and keep getting better, I think he can get to that level. But he’s already really good.”
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