After an epic season that earned him the NBA scoring title – becoming the first Philadelphia player to top the league since Allen Iverson 17 years ago – many people expect Joel Embiid to put up a strong show and possibly emerge this year’s NBA champions.
However, to achieve that feat, Embiid – now assisted by one of the best point guards in the league in the person of James Harden, has to overcome a number of obstacles, one of which is his fellow Cameroonian Pascal Siakam, who is leading the Toronto Raptors in their quest for another NBA championship.
Interestingly, Embiid and Siakam have many other things in common apart from coming from the Central African country. They were both born in 1994 in Cameroon and both were discovered and helped to end up in the NBA by a fellow countryman Luc Mbah a Moute, who has played for the Milwaukee Bucks, Sacramento Kings, Minnesota Timberwolves, Philadelphia 76ers, LA Clippers and Houston Rockets in his 12 years in the NBA.
Though like Embiid, a Moute hails from Yaoundé and even discovered the dominant center at a basketball camp, his aim is to continue to ensure the growth of basketball in his native country and will never mind Siakam, who is from Douala and another star he discovered at a camp, getting a second ring. But a ring for Embiid at this point in his career is what will excite many Cameroonians.
For Siakam, regardless of whether Embiid and Harden perfected their pairing or not — the ten-time All-Star guard makes the five-time All-Star center a better player these days. “It’s someone coming off the pick and roll that can shoot the three, that can attack, and can pass,” Siakam told reporters.
“He can do everything and that makes it harder to cover Joel because it’s tough to help off James. How many years and the level that he’s played at and how great he is as a player, just makes Joel even tougher and we already know how great Joel is. Those two are definitely a tough matchup.”
Embiid also believes the Raptors are one of the better defensive squads when playing against him and he credits the Raptors for helping him sharpen his skillset.
“The way that they defend me has never changed,” said Embiid. “They just play recklessly, sending three guys on me as soon as the ball is in the air, which made me better honestly over the years just playing against them and watching them. They definitely made me a better playmaker, so I enjoy playing with them. There are still a lot of ways I can attack them. It doesn’t have to be iso. I can just get good position on them and use my size and weight to try and take advantage of them. I think I know what I have to do. I just have to execute.”
In 2019 playoffs, the Philadelphia 76ers lost Game 7 in the Eastern Conference semifinals. Now they are facing each other in the first round. It is left to be seen who between the African brothers will advance to the second round.
