LeBron James is changing what Joel Embiid has to be for the Sixers

Joel Embiid shot 3-for-12 and 0-for-4 from three on Friday night, and the Sixers still beat the defending NBA Cup champion Knicks 98-93. A season ago that line usually meant a loss. Now it shows the more interesting change in Philadelphia: LeBron James has given the offense a second place to start, and Embiid no longer has to be the answer every trip down the floor.

The passer changes the job

James finished with 20 points, 9 rebounds and 8 assists. Embiid, on a night when the jumper would not fall, finished with 10 points, 7 rebounds and 7 assists. Those are two big players creating for teammates in the same game, and the second number is the one that matters. A center who can pass out of pressure when his own shot is off keeps the offense moving instead of stalling.

Embiid also turned it over 4 times, so the night was not clean. But the Sixers won with their best big man missing most of what he threw up, which says the load is spread differently than it was.

Late-game execution

ESPN reports James scored six points in the fourth quarter, and Nick Nurse called it James' best game as a Sixer. That fits a pattern. Philadelphia is 5-1, and ESPN notes all five wins have come in clutch time. Having a veteran who can slow the game, find the right target and take a shot himself is the simplest explanation for a team that keeps closing.

The same stat is the warning. Philadelphia scored only 21 points in the fourth quarter while the Knicks scored 25, and the Sixers held on because of the lead they had built. Teams that win every close game tend to see some of those flip. New York, at 2-4, is the kind of opponent that usually gets those bounces back.

What to watch

The opening-night 106-100 win in New York came in James' debut, and Friday's win came with the roles shifting again. Two different scripts, same result. That is encouraging, because it suggests the formula does not depend on one player having a big scoring night.

Sustainability comes down to Embiid's shot diet. If the extra playmaking lets him take fewer forced jumpers and more looks near the rim, the 3-for-12 night is an outlier and the team's ceiling rises. If he keeps drifting to the perimeter while James runs the show, the Sixers will lean on late-game execution more than they should. For now, the evidence is a team that won with its center off and its forward on, which beats the reverse.

The next few games will show whether the pattern holds when the fourth quarter is not close. A team built on clutch wins eventually needs a few comfortable ones.