Joel Embiid rejected by Jaren Jackson Jr. but gets his payback minutes later

Joel Embiid has been one of the league’s premier shot blockers, but somehow he didn’t see this one coming.

Less than five minutes into Sunday’s game between the Philadelphia 76ers and Memphis Grizzlies, the Sixers started a fast break after Embiid stole an errant pass from Mike Conley. Ben Simmons pushed the ball, returned it to Embiid, and the 7-footer went up for the easy dunk.

Except rookie Jaren Jackson Jr. was in his path and did his best Embiid impression by casually knocking the shot into the stands.

The 76ers retained possession of the ball, but Conley blocked J.J. Redick’s mid-range jumper a few moments later. Completing the block party, Jackson stuffed Simmons for his second block in eight seconds.

Embiid and Jackson entered the game tied for seventh in the league with 2.0 blocks per game. However, Jackson has the edge in block percentage (7.4 percent, ranked fifth) over Embiid (4.5 percent, ranked 18th).

Just 22 games into his NBA career, Jackson has already become one of the best defensive big men around and entered the game tied with the New York Knicks’ center Mitchell Robinson for the most blocks among rookies (42).

Embiid gets his revenge

Embiid took a seat on the bench less than a minute after getting rejected at the rim, but he must have been thinking about the play because once he returned to the game, it only took him 10 seconds to get his payback.

After the dead ball, Redick missed a 19-footer, and Grizzlies guard MarShon came up with the rebound and started a fast break. Fortunately, Sixers guard T.J. McConnell was in a great position to slow down the charging Brooks, which gave Embiid time to catch up with a glorious chase-down block.

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