Embiid latest NBA star to be shut down by Raptors

TORONTO — A humorous meme of Joel Embiid made the rounds of social media Monday night after Philadelphia’s seven-foot centre went scoreless for the first time in his NBA career.

It was the famous picture of Wilt Chamberlain holding a “100” sign after he dropped a record-100 points on the New York Knicks in 1962.

Instead it was Embiid’s face superimposed on Chamberlain. The sign he held read “0.”

While Embiid is averaging 21 points a night, Marc Gasol and the Raptors smothered the Sixers’ two-time all-star on Monday — the latest in a list of NBA stars who’ve been thoroughly frustrated by Toronto this season.

Toronto’s defence leads the league in opponents’ field goal percentage, holding teams to 41.3 per cent. They’ve simply made an art of stopping the league’s best players. L.A. Clippers superstar Kawhi Leonard shot just 2-for-11 for 12 points against his former team. The Lakers’ LeBron James: 13 points on 5-of-15. Portland’s Damian Lillard: nine points on 2-of-12.

And Embiid — who last March famously referred to himself as “the most unstoppable player in the league” — shot 0-for-11.

“Marc Gasol, he’s as good as it gets, man, as a big-man defender,” Raptors coach Nick Nurse said. “Combination of size, physicality, IQ, effort — all those things that when you start listing [them] and your defence mentality becomes pretty good, and it kind of spreads a little bit, I think. So that’s kinda where it starts.

“Give guys all the credit, they’ve gone out there and executed the stuff pretty high-level,” Nurse added. “And played hard, right? They’re playing hard, man.”

The 34-year-old Gasol, who was acquired in last February’s trade that sent Jonas Valanciunas to Memphis, had just three points on the night, but the savvy veteran doled out nine assists and had Toronto’s defence looking like a well-oiled machine.