PHILADELPHIA – Remember Joel Embiid?
It's hard to forget someone who is 7 feet 2 inches and the most dominant center in the NBA. And it was especially hard to forget when Embiid wore a peach blazer with white pants and gold shoes on the 76ers' bench Wednesday night.
The Sixers certainly haven't forgotten Embiid despite finishing the regular season with their 16th straight win, a franchise record, after their 130-95 beating of the Milwaukee Bucks on Wednesday.
Embiid sat out for the eighth straight game with a concussion and orbital fracture in his left eye. The Sixers kept winning anyway, and they might have to keep doing it without Embiid as the playoffs begin.
The Sixers (52-30) open the postseason Saturday against the Miami Heat. Embiid said before the game that it's "unlikely" that he'll be ready for Game 1. He wouldn't give a timetable beyond that.
"Obviously, I want to play, but right now I feel like I'm not ready yet," Embiid said, marking the first time he has spoken to the media since suffering the injury when he collided with Markelle Fultz on March 28. "It's getting better. I've got to keep working. With the way it's been progressing, I'm hopeful to be back soon."
Ben Simmons became a triple-double machine during the winning streak. And then there's Fultz, the rookie who missed 68 games during the season recovering from a shoulder issue.
Fultz had his first career triple-double, finishing with 13 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists. He became, at 19 years old, the youngest player to get one in NBA history. When he pulled down the 10th rebound with 1:12 left, the crowd gave him a standing ovation and started chanting "Fultz! Fultz!" and his teammates started mobbing him.
Then in the locker room, Fultz described the scene:
"Oh, man, they killed me," Fultz said. "They poured strawberry milk, chocolate milk, water. They drowned me with everything. But it's all love and appreciation."
Still, the Sixers have thrived without Embiid, and really, that's the most remarkable thing about this winning streak. In the past, including earlier this season, the Sixers have fallen apart without Embiid.
Now, it's like he's not even there.
That's not entirely true, as his garish outfit indicated. And Sixers coach Brett Brown, of all people, knows this more than anyone.
"It certainly adds confidence to the team," Brown said about winning without Embiid. "I think that there is a probably clearer identity. We play fast; we shoot 3s. ... I feel like what we’ve been doing without Joel is good, but what you should hear completely the loudest is that I can’t wait for him to get back."
That will happen soon enough, but probably not for Game 1.
"Unlikely, but there's still a chance basing on the way I've been feeling the past couple days and the way I've progressed," Embiid said. "Unlikely, but we're going to see how it feels."
The Sixers are feeling really good, with or without Embiid, the All-Star center who's averaging 22.9 points and 11.0 rebounds per game.
The Sixers had a 30-point lead over the Bucks ... in the first quarter. They led 70-29, or by 41 points, with just under five minutes left in the second quarter. They played the second half only because they were required to under NBA rules.
The only suspense was waiting to see who they would be playing in the first round. And that took a little longer because the Heat went to overtime against the Raptors before Miami ended up winning.
But really, does it matter with the way the Sixers are playing?
"Ready to go," Simmons said about the Heat. "It's going to be fun. It's a tough team to play against, but we got all the pieces."
Fultz is definitely one of those pieces now. The Sixers brought him back March 26, hoping to find out whether he would have a role in the playoffs. He has averaged 7.4 points and 4.1 assists in 16 minutes in the eight games he played in before Wednesday.
"At this stage, I feel like he does [have a role]," Brown said. "It’ll come with deeper thought and I feel a clearer answer to you when I know who we’re playing. There is that little part of it that counts for something. But in general, when we got him back, it was my desire to see him."
Fultz is often the backup point guard to Simmons. When asked what Fultz does, Simmons replied: "The same thing I do – push the ball, get to the rim."
And the Sixers have benefited, whether it's sharpshooters like JJ Redick, who sat out Wednesday with lower back soreness, or Dario Saric, who had 24 points, or Marco Belinelli with 13.
In a way, Embiid said that has enabled him to make sure he's fully healthy before returning.
"It’s helped a lot, too, because I can kind of, not take my time, but be more calm about it and make sure that everything is right," Embiid said. "Kind of follow the doctors’ orders instead of wanting to go out there and play, thinking my teammates actually really, really need me. But I’m glad that they’re doing a great job without me."
Finally, that includes Fultz.
"For me, it's a confidence builder," Fultz said. "I always believed in myself. I always knew what I was capable of. It was just a matter of going out there and doing it."
But Fultz still has one bit of unfinished business. When asked who was responsible for dumping strawberry milk on him, he replied: "I don't even know. I'm going to find out, though, and I'm going to get him back."
Contact Martin Frank at mfrank@delawareonline.com. Follow on Twitter @Mfranknfl.