Eyes were on Jahlil Okafor on Friday to see how he would bounce back from Wednesday's game against Miami Heat. You know that game, the one with the defense that quickly spread all over the Internet?
Okafor responded with six rebounds in the first half and eight in 20 minutes for the night against the Knicks.
"They really didn't do a good job boxing out," Okafor said after the Sixers' 105-102 win (see Instant Replay). "I just tried to work as hard as I can to get rebounds on both ends of the floor. Being active, playing with a lot of energy, that was my mindset coming into the game."
Okafor said the video of him not putting forth much effort on defense (see story) was on his mind "maybe a little bit" entering Friday night. He pulled down his first rebound less than four minutes into the first quarter. He grabbed five boards in a 2:37 span to end the second and added another two in the third. Establishing an early momentum helped his game.
"It was good just to get off to a good start after having all that hype about me giving up two points and being blamed for every single thing against the Miami Heat," Okafor said. "So it was good to get off to a good start, for sure, especially since we won. That's always a bonus."
This performance was significant to the buzz surrounding Okafor in the previous outing. While his defense has always been the shortcoming to his offensively-strong game, his effort came under fire against the Heat (see story). Okafor was more troubled by the questioning of his competitive intentions versus the criticism of the play itself.
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"That was brought to my attention. Everybody was talking about it," Okafor said. "The only thing that bothers me about that is the stigma that I don't care about playing defense or that I'm not trying to be a winner.
"I don't mind being criticized, but when that's said -- I don't want to win and that I'm not even trying -- that's when I know it's gone a little bit too far. That's not who I am. I've been a winner, I've been a champion at every level, so I'm going to continue to be a winner and just try to have a winning attitude."
Brett Brown echoed Okafor's desire to win. The head coach noted the importance to playing well in front of the home crowd at the Wells Fargo center.
"Everybody's aware that Jahlil gets torpedoed with the defensive stuff," Brown said. "He's prideful and he's so much better than people give him credit for. He's got a long way to go; we all get that. But there's a pride aspect in Jahlil that he wants to come out and show fans, and especially our own fans, that he's got more to offer than some clip that ran viral."
Okafor has been giving the Knicks problems on the glass this season. He has totaled 18 rebounds in two games against them, his highest season average against any opponent he has faced at least twice. Okafor didn't see any specific matchup advantages that led to his stat line, just his approach.
"I'm just trying to have good effort every night to be more effective on the boards," he said. "I don't want to pinpoint it and say it's the Knicks, but I am trying to get better at that part of my game."
Okafor also scored 12 points and added a block and an assist. He cut down on his turnovers from an average of six in the past two games to two against the Knicks. Okafor suffered a rib contusion but did return to play.
"Jahlil Okafor, with the minutes that he played, contributed in a major way to letting us find a win tonight," Brown said.