How Brook Lopez Neutralized Joel Embiid

There is no stopping Joel Embiid; you can only hope to contain him. It’s a tired and overused cliché, but that doesn’t make it any less accurate when discussing the top offensive players in today’s NBA. And contain is exactly what Milwaukee Bucks’ center Brook Lopez did to the MVP frontrunner on Sunday night.

As Milwaukee toppled Philadelphia to maintain a two-game edge over the Boston Celtics in the loss column, Embiid’s box score looks serviceable. He finished with 28 points, nine rebounds and five assists. However, the film shows the incredible work Lopez did to make Embiid work on nearly every shot.

According to my re-watch, Lopez was the primary defender for 23 of Embiid’s 25 shots, forcing the big man to miss 13 of those attempts for a field goal percentage of 43.5 percent.

Lopez has the size and strength to contest the majority of Embiid’s attempts and force the MVP candidate to make shots over him time and time again. This sequence played out all night, as the only open attempts he saw were a couple of three-pointers. Everything else was a grind.

Embiid didn’t even try Lopez in the post due to the big man’s blend of size and strength. By my count, he only took two shot attempts out of a post-up, and it was a win for the Bucks’ defense each time.

With the entire left side of the court cleared out, the 76ers’ MVP candidate went to work against the Bucks’ DPOY candidate. After ceding ground on the initial move, Lopez found a new base and held his ground from getting pushed closer to the basket. Embiid did a nice job feeling Lopez’s bump and spinning baseline to counter it. It caught Lopez off guard for a second, but he was able to use his length to recover and contest the fadeaway.

The most common shot attempt of the night came courtesy of an Embiid-James Harden pick-and-roll that saw Embiid short roll to the free throw area. He’s absolutely deadly from that spot on the floor where his touch and jumper are a force to be reckoned with.

Embiid sets a ball-screen for Harden at the top of the key with Lopez in Milwaukee’s patented drop defense at the free throw line. Jrue Holiday does a great job staying attached to Harden’s hip, but Lopes has to stay in front of the ball-handler until Holiday fully recovers. This allows Embiid to roll on a concurrent plane with Harden, receive the behind-the-back pass and rise for a shot just inside the elbow for a smooth basket.

This is the containment I was talking about from Lopez. He’s tasked with stopping the ball-handler AND recovering to his man in time. Even though it results in a basket, he forces the 76ers to make a contested shot over his outstretched arms.

It’s fair to say the Bucks were bailed out a bit by Philadelphia’s shot selection as the game went on. Embiid didn’t miss a shot out of that short roll—he was 5-for-5 and drew a shooting foul on another attempt—but he didn’t take a short-roll jumper after the seven-minute mark in the second quarter.

He also fell in love with the three-point shot, choosing to pop behind the arc in the second half instead of the free throw line area. Perhaps, he chose this area because it was, by far, the most open he was all game. In fact, those were the only shots he took where Lopez was draped all over him. He finished the game a measly one-for-seven from the three-point line.

Embiid also tried Lopez several times around the rim and wasn’t very successful.

After stopping Harden and allowing Holiday to recover following the ball screen, Lopez’s job on this play is only just beginning. When Embiid receives the pass at the top of the key, Lopez has to recover quickly, but under control to contest a potential three-point attempt. He does just that and gets rewarded by having to contain an athletic and skilled seven-footer who is trying to make his way to the rim. The Bucks’ big man stays in his defensive stance and slides his feet to cut off the angle to the hoop. Milwaukee’s other All-NBA defenders swarm and ensure the ball has little chance of going through the basket.

All in all, it was a great day for Lopez and the Bucks’ defense.

Now 35-years-old, Lopez continues to display a career resurgence that includes him reinventing his entire game on both ends of the court. There’s a strong argument to be made that this is the best season of his entire career.

With an All-Defensive selection on the horizon, Lopez continues to show out. Although it’s all about the team in Milwaukee, it’s still nice to get some individual accolades along the way. And his containment of the MVP favorite should be fresh in the mind of voters when they make their submissions next week.