76ers eager for Embiid's defense against Jazz

Joel Embiid returns to the Philadelphia 76ers on the heels of the team's first loss of the season.

Embiid served a two-game suspension for his altercation with Minnesota's Karl-Anthony Towns and will be back in the lineup on Wednesday night when the 76ers visit the Utah Jazz in Salt Lake City.

Embiid was penalized for the incident with Towns last Wednesday night that was followed by profane insults on social media. His defensive presence was missed in the second game of his suspension when the Phoenix Suns recorded a 114-109 victory over Philadelphia on Tuesday.

Suns star guard Devi n Booker operated at will to score 40 points on 15-of-19 shooting as the 76ers (5-1) had no answers on how to stop him.

"Obviously defensively, I thought they never really felt us in the second half," Philadelphia forward Tobias Harris told reporters after the loss. "They got too many easy looks, too many open looks."

The 76ers will be happy to have Embiid back near the basket as well as for his offensive exploits (23.3 scoring average) and rebounding (10.3).

Veteran power forward Al Horford did a pretty fair impression of Embiid during the two games by averaging 28.5 points. Horford pumped in a season-best 32 on 13-of-20 shooting in Monday's loss.

"For the last couple of games, obviously with Joel being out, I felt like I've had to step up a little more, be more aggressive and look to score," Horford told reporters after the defeat. "Tonight the way they were defending me, it gave me a lot of looks and I took advantage of that."

Utah (4-3) will be looking to halt a two-game slide that includes Sunday's 105-94 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers.

The Jazz were manhandled on the boards by a 54-37 margin, much to the chagrin of coach Quin Snyder. The Clippers collected 18 offensive rebounds and posted a 29-8 edge in second-chance points.

"The biggest thing was the defensive glass," Snyder told reporters. "It was too much to overcome if we're not getting bodies on people and getting rebounds. We can have a good possession defensively. But if we don't secure the ball, it's wasted."

Star guard Donovan Mitchell scored a season-best 36 points to raise his scoring average to 25.7. Mitchell has scored 24 or more points in six of Utah's seven games.

While Mitchell has been superb, newcomer Mike Conley (12.4 points) is struggling and shooting just 31.8 percent from the field.

As Conley's shots clank off the rim, center Rudy Gobert wonders why more passes aren't coming his way.

Gobert averaged a career-best 15.9 points last season but is five points below that at 10.9.

"The drive is great but the pass to the big is a weapon that we have and we don't use it," Gobert told the Salt Lake Tribune. "Usually, I feel like we can lob it up. But once the lob isn't there, we're not really looking. It's on me to get in good positions at the rim, and at the same time, it's on my teammates to want to find me."

Gobert had 12 points and 14 rebounds against the Clippers for his second straight double-double and third of the season.

Embiid averaged 23 points and 11 rebounds while the 76ers were sweeping last season's two games against the Jazz. Gobert averaged 14.5 points and 12.5 boards.

--Field Level Media