Joel Embiid Challenges Teams to 'Hack-a-Joel' After Win vs. Bulls

Joel Embiid dares teams to send him to the free throw line with the game on the line in the future.

Joel Embiid has spent years working hard on his shot. Despite being a big man who can dominate down low on the offensive end, Embiid has shown throughout the years that he’s a three-level scorer, as his shot has improved greatly.

And as Embiid is a frequent visitor to the free throw line, the big man has come close to perfecting his free throw shooting. While he was a 77 percent free throw shooter through his first two NBA seasons, Embiid has improved his average and has hit on 82 percent of his free throws from his third season up until last year.

Nobody is perfect from the free throw line, and Embiid proved he was human on Saturday night as the Sixers took on the Chicago Bulls. The big man went to the charity stripe for a total of nine attempts. Uncharacteristically, Embiid missed three of those shots.

Unfortunately, two of the three shots he missed came in crunch time. As the Sixers and the Bulls engaged in a tight fourth-quarter battle after Chicago ate into Philly’s double-digit lead, Embiid had an opportunity to give the Sixers a lead with under one minute left during his final trip to the free throw line.

Unexpectedly, Embiid missed both of his attempts. After the game, Embiid poked a little bit of fun at the situation, challenging teams to purposely send him to the foul line in critical situations in the future.

“I can’t believe I missed two free throws,” said Embiid after the game. “Maybe teams should start fouling me and do ‘Hack-a-Joel.’”

While Embiid was just being his trolling self after the game, he was visibly frustrated with himself for missing the two shots. Fortunately, he got his redemption shortly after as Embiid knocked down the go-ahead three-pointer with under 20 seconds left to go.

“I had to make that shot after missing two free throws,” he finished. “It was a good play call by Coach, and I just had to do my job.”

The Sixers closed out Saturday’s matchup with a 114-109 win over Chicago. Now, they are 3-4 on the year as they look to wrap up their road trip with a matchup against the Washington Wizards on Monday.

Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for All76ers, a Sports Illustrated channel. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_.


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Justin Grasso
JUSTIN GRASSO

Title: Credentialed writer/reporter covering the Philadelphia 76ers for Sports Illustrated’s FanNation Email: JustinGrasso32@Gmail.com Location: Philadelphia, PA Expertise: Reporting, insight, and analysis on the Sixers and the NBA  Justin Grasso is a credentialed writer and publisher covering the Philadelphia 76ers for Sports Illustrated’s FanNation.  Grasso got his start in sports media in 2016 with FantasyPros, working the news desk, providing game-by-game player analysis and updates on the Portland Trail Blazers and the Golden State Warriors. By 2017, he joined FanSided’s Philadelphia Eagles site as a staff writer. After spending one season covering the Eagles as a staff writer, Grasso was promoted to become the site’s Co-Editor. For the next two NFL seasons, he covered the Eagles closely before broadening his NFL coverage. For a brief stint, Grasso covered the NFL on a national basis after joining Heavy.com as an NFL news desk writer. In 2019, Grasso joined the 76ers' beat on a part-time basis, stepping into a role with South Jersey’s 97.3 ESPN. Ahead of the 2019-2020 NBA season, he concluded a three-year stint covering the Eagles and joined the Sixers beat full-time. Grasso has covered the 76ers exclusively since then for Sports Illustrated. He is a member of the Pro Basketball Writer’s Association.  Twitter: @JGrasso_ Instagram: @JGrassoNBA