Ladies and gentlemen, Joel Embiid is not interested in playing games.
The Sixers' MVP runner-up opened a crucial Game 5 at home vs. the Hawks by absolutely torching Atlanta, rattling off eight shots without a miss in the opening frame. You can watch highlights from his first quarter above.
It was an absolutely absurd display of shot-making, from a turnaround jumper for his first shot of the game to multiple bully moves against Hawks center Clint Capela, all the way out to the arc for a top-of-the-key triple.
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Embiid, coming off one of the worst playoff games of his career in a disappointing Game 4, looked like a man possessed in his 11 minutes of action, attacking Capela and any other Hawks defender who dared get in his way.
The big man also got into a war of words with Capela, jawing up and down the floor late in the quarter and picking up a technical foul after directing some pointed trash talk Capela's way.
Capela made the mistake of talking after Game 4 about how he'd been able to wear Embiid down in Game 4, fatiguing him and changing the game.
I'd bet Embiid didn't love hearing that, and in the first quarter he clearly had a message to deliver. Unreal.