Sixers’ Joel Embiid says team paid for relaxing vs. Celtics after taking 15-point lead
Joel Embiid didnt share in thousand of fans exultations Saturday night after he launched a game-tying heave attempt from 70 or so feet away and drained it.
He could tell he hadnt quite released the ball in time and the Sixers had fallen to 0-3 this season against the Eastern Conference-leading Celtics.
I wish I wouldve shot it sooner, but as I turned I saw Derrick White there, so I couldnt really get it off, Embiid said. So I had to kind of go back to my right side to try to get it off.
Unfortunately, story of my life.
Its easy to extract silver linings from the third-seeded Sixers incredibly tight loss at Wells Fargo Center, which ended a five-game winning streak and put the team at 39-20 overall.
Embiid was powerful and relentless in a 41-point performance, drawing 18 foul shots and hitting 17 of them. PJ Tucker pulled down 16 rebounds and generally looked like a player capable of making winning plays for the Sixers in the postseason. Tobias Harris started hot and scored an efficient 19 points. Both he and DeAnthony Melton did good work guarding Jayson Tatum before the Celtics stars game-wining three-pointer.
Though Embiid recognized those positives, he was understandably displeased that the Sixers 15-point lead with under eight minutes left in the third quarter turned into a 10-point deficit with 7:11 remaining in the fourth.
I think were right there, Embiid said. Being up 15, I thought we were not all ready to play basketball and weve just got to be better all of us. I thought for the most part, before they made that run in the third quarter, we took away their threes. We relaxed a little bit and weve just got to be better.
Just as Blake Griffin had in the Sixers Feb. 8 loss to Boston, Al Horford went 5 for 8 from three-point range.
Theres always some make-or-miss luck involved in any comeback, but the Sixers certainly helped the Celtics by conceding plenty of comfortable shots.
When youre playing against good teams, you cant relax, Embiid said. Its a 48-minute game. Like tonight, youre up by 15 and then the next thing you know, they take the lead going into the fourth just because we didnt have the same mentality that we had until that point. Youve just got to stick to your concepts and be as forceful as possible.
Harris called it a heartbreaking game.
When we get those leads, weve got to sustain them, he said. That comes especially with not allowing that cushion to make us content. We gave up too many easy looks there, especially those threes by Al. Those hurt us.
The Sixers bench wasnt their lone problem Saturday. Still, it seems clear which team would have won if second units were out of the picture. White posted 18 points off Bostons bench, while Tyrese Maxey was the Sixers top second-unit scorer with eight points in his 25 minutes.
Maxey missed both of his three-point tries, dropping to 0 for 8 from long range over his last two contests, and drew no free throws.
Embiid detailed how hes encouraging the 22-year-old to have a consistent approach.
After the game, I was talking to him, Embiid said. I was like, What can I do to help you? We were just having a conversation and trying to figure out which ways I can help. We had a good conversation.
My main thing for him is to just be aggressive. Obviously, everybody watches film and everybody knows what he does best. I was just giving him an example about how Im sure people watch film on me and they probably know what I want to get to, but theres so many ways you can set them up and still be able to get to whatever shot you want or whatever spot on the floor.
So hell be fine. But I told him were not going anywhere unless hes aggressive and he just plays freely. So thats all I want from him. Whether its coming off the bench or starting, just want him to be aggressive and play freely.
The Sixers next opponent will indeed have studied Maxeys game closely. The Sixers will face the team that knocked them out of last year’s playoffs on Monday. Theyll play the Heat in Philadelphia and then head to Miami for another meeting Wednesday night.
Fifty-nine games into the season, Tucker is finally set to face his former team.
Key game, he said. Guys are going to come out and play hard, play their style of basketball. But for us, its another challenge. We have them home and then away, so thats going to be tough. So we just lock back in the next two days.
