Thaddeus Young Made Joel Embiid Touch Earth And Knocked Down A Stepback Jumper

Thaddeus Young hasn’t had much of a role to play in the first three games of the Toronto Raptors’ series against the Philadelphia 76ers. The veteran forward, who the team acquired at the trade deadline, has only appeared in 19 minutes and 16 seconds during those games, and has accrued a total of four points and three rebounds.

Young got some run early on in a must-win Game 4 for Toronto and had maybe the most entertaining moment that a Raptors player has had all series. After setting a screen for Fred VanVleet, Young got the ball at the top of the three-point line with no one near him. Joel Embiid noticed this and started to man him up, at which point Young went to work.

A four-move sequence — a pump fake, a dribble, a behind-the-back dribble, and a stepback — got Young open, in part because Embiid stumbled and had both of his hands touch the ground. Because the basketball gods normally reward this sort of thing, Young hit a jumper that made Toronto’s bench and the entire home crowd go insane.

The Raptors could use a big game from Young, as they face elimination with a loss. They don’t all need to involve Embiid touching earth like this, but our guess is the fans would enjoy that.