Joel Embiid Knows How to Make Stephen Curry Go 0-for-10 from Three | 5 Minutes from Home

How would I say "5 minutes from home" in French?

À 5 minutes de la maison.

À 5 minutes de la maison. We're going worldwide with this. What's up, man? What's up, Doc?

You good?

I'm good, man.

Shalom.

Can I give you a ride?

Yup, yup.

All right, cool, cool.

Ah, man.

Welcome to the city, bro.

Thank you, thank you. I've heard a lot about San Fran, so I'm excited. That's actually my second time here only. I've been in the league for what?

Oh, that's right.

My fifth year.

Last year was the—

Last year was my first time playing here, so— That was when I had a wild hairstyle back then. Yeah.

I can't. I had to tone it back down. I came with the twisties and all that. I know. I'm too old for that now. Once we get on the street, I'm hitting you with the hard-hitting questions. What's your insight on Philly as a city? Obviously they've embraced you. You are like the mayor of Philadelphia right now. What's it like to play there?

Philly is, Philly's different. It's cool. It's chill. I'm a chill guy. I don't like doing anything. I'm always home playing video games, but a lot of good restaurants. And I know you remember last time we had dinner in Philly.

I was gonna tell that story.

Oh, for 10 from 3?

Yes. I was gonna tell that story.

I hope it happens tomorrow.

So this is what, 2 years ago, we were in Philly and a coach of mine, Lloyd Pierce, called him, said, "Hey, I'm in the city. Let's go out to eat." He said, "Cool, we'll go to the spot. I think Joel might stop by." "Be cool for you to get to know him, yada yada." So we got to this restaurant. Amazing food, chill. You show up, like, probably halfway through dinner. That night after we played y'all, the next night, I had too much good food, 'cause I did shoot 0 for 10 from the 3-point line. So I'm not gonna repeat that tomorrow.

That still won the game. Yeah, I know.

I'm not gonna repeat that tomorrow.

That's— I hope it happens tomorrow. We need that win.

We're going to my wife's restaurant, so her good food. We'll both probably have amazing games.

So it's gonna be what? Yeah. 15, 14, 13?

I'll take that. I'll take that. It's cool to shoot 23s now. So you can just—

I can't shoot 23s.

I can't.

I won't feel good about myself if I shoot 23s. No chance.

For people that don't know, you didn't start playing basketball until, what, 16, right?

16.

Which to me is such a, like, a foreign concept in terms of I started playing when I was 5. My dad played in the NBA.

Yeah.

You had obviously a totally different perspective. You played other sports. Played soccer, right? Yeah, it was different football, man. Football.

I played soccer, volleyball, you know, a little bit of tennis.

Volleyball?

Yeah, volleyball. I love volleyball. Volleyball was actually like my actual sport. I did that for about 5 years. Yeah. And I had the opportunity to come to the States through Luke Mbamute.

Yeah.

He came back, he had a camp, and I promise you, I was not good at all. Like, I was, I didn't know what I was doing. I couldn't catch the ball. Back then, I don't know if you saw pictures, I was like so skinny. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I was like, I couldn't move. Like, I was getting pushed all over the place. But he still ended up picking me for the opportunity to come to the state and go to high school.

That's when you go to Florida, right?

I'm on for the academy. It's a different story. Like, you know, you see guys IQ so much better than I am. And then I'm like, I'm in a situation where I'm like, okay, like, what am I doing here? Like, why did I even come here? But I used to get in fights a lot. Guys would push me all over the place.

Yeah.

And they used to, like, make fun of me because I couldn't catch the ball or I couldn't speak English. [SPEAKING CREOLE] Right. The walls pop.

They see you, expect you supposed to be good.

Yeah.

'Cause you 6'10", 11", 7'4", whatever.

Coach Boyle, like, that's the coach I'm on for the academy.

Yeah.

This one time, he kicked me out of practice. And maybe 2 years after, I learned that when he did kick me out of practice, He stayed back and then he told everybody, he was like, "Well, keep making fun of him. In 3 or 4 years, y'all gonna be asking him for a loan." That's what he told them. And because of how I was getting treated, that's where I kinda got my competitive nature. Mm-hmm. Where I'm like, "Okay, like, these guys are making fun of me. I wanna be better than all these guys." Back then, like, my form wasn't good. I couldn't make shots. So an idea came to my mind. You know, when you get to the States, like, there's a stereotype about, like, white people.

Oh, like the white shooters.

Yeah, white people are shooters. So I'm like—

We used to call them, when we were playing AAU growing up, we called them the zone busters. 'Cause when their team was playing man, they never play.

When they play zone, the coach be like, "You in." "Stay in the corner." So I'm like, I type 'cause I heard it. Like, when I got to the city, that's all I kept hearing. Like, shooters are white. Like, when you white, you a shooter. So I'm like, okay, like, if I wanna learn how to shoot the ball, I should probably follow that model. So I'm like, I'm thankful for YouTube and, you know, watching all these guys.

In terms of, like, nicknames that have kind of followed you, obviously, The Process is one that you're almost— you're not at the end of The Process, but everything is kind of wrapped around it. No, The Process is never over. Never under? OK.

You gotta win a championship. And when you win a championship, it starts over. So The Process is always gonna go.

So you like that nickname. You rolling with it.

I do. I do like it. Mainly because of the history of how we got here. So that's why I like it. But I've actually been thinking about, you know, creating something else. Like, I'm tired of the past.

I'm tired of it. That can always be a part of who you are, but you wanna have a little something, little something fresh to roll with. Yeah. So this is International Smoke. My wife opened this restaurant last year, like October. How we doing? Hi.

So good to see you.

Good to see you too. How you doing? And as you can see, we ain't going to be the only ones in here.

It's packed. I see there's a lot of people in there.

It's like a 3-month waiting list. I know somebody, so she got me in. She got us in.

That's perfect.

Ooh. Got a nice little setup for us. Figured I'd take you to the one place I know best, my wife's restaurant, International Smoke, for a little pregame dinner. Crazy thing is she's actually here, so she's gonna bring us a little something. What's up?

I didn't know you were gonna be here.

That's a surprise.

I didn't realize this was for you.

You like our—

What's going on? How you doing?

It's disturbing. This is our burrata. With beets, watercress, pistachio, and a yummy vinaigrette. So enjoy it.

Thank you kindly.

You go for 50 tomorrow, you know what happened. It's because of me. I'm just saying.

That's the secret to go for 50.

That's the secret to, you know, shoot like that, go for 50. I appreciate you being on the show.

Oh, thank you.

Telling us a little about your background.

Thank you for having me.

No doubt, man.

Thank you.

5 minutes from home.

Yes, sir.

Joel Embiid. I don't know what camera to look at, but you know what?

We having a good time.

Yes, sir. Get your steak and we're good.

Get your steak and we're taking off. Yeah, I'm getting my steak.

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