Give Joel Embiid The Respect He Deserves, That Was A Legacy Game
Last night was a legacy-type game for Joel Embiid. 50 points, 13 of 19 from the field, 5 of 7 from 3. That is what he did on a bad knee while dealing with Bell’s Palsy. All to help lift the Sixers to a 125-114 win. It was the type of game we were all waiting to see him have. Embiid had been great in games 1 and 2, but he took over game 3.
The Sixers needed a win. If they lost, they would be down 0-3 and would have had to do something no team in NBA history has ever done. Instead, it is 1-2, and the Sixers have a chance to tie it up on Sunday.
That is because of Joel Embiid. Not only because of him. Maxey had a really nice game despite being shadowed by OG for nearly the entire time. Other guys on the team like Cam Payne and kelly Oubre stepped up too.
But Embiid was the difference maker. 15 points in the final frame. 15 pts is what their 3rd leading scorer, Oubre, scored in the entire game. Everyone not named Embiid or Maxey combined scored 50 points. He imposed his will on the Knicks, and there was nothing they could do about it.
And Yet, People Still Disrespect Joel Embiid
All of that, people will still disrespect him. They will complain about his body language. They will complain he falls down too much. They will call him soft. It is maddening.
Embiid might be a bit dramatic at times. That is who he is. But no player in Philly has battled through more than him. Yes, he is always injured. But he is also always battling through those injuries. He fractured his eye twice and played through it. His knee is clearly bothering him now, but he still scored 50. Now he is grappling with Bell’s Palsy.
What more does he need to do for his effort to be appreciated? Embiid is many things, but soft is not one of them.
Has he at times come up small late in the playoffs? Yes. But even in those cases, he was still a net positive for the team. His offense in the Raptors series a few years back was not good enough. But they were the better team anytime he was on the floor because of his defense.
They might be losing this series, but that is not because of him. He is scoring 38 points, and racking up over 5 assists per game. On Thursday a few of the role players finally stepped up, and surprise, they actually won.
Appreciate Joel Embiid While We Have Him
Joel Embiid is not perfect, but he gives this city everything he has. The dude is a Super Star and deserves way better treatment than he sometimes gets.
Appreciate greatness while we have it. Players like him don’t grow on trees. Once he is gone, it might be another decade until we have someone anywhere close to as great as he is. Yet some fans in this city can’t stop bashing him long enough to appreciate what we have in front of us.
Pro Basketball was dead in this city before he arrived. I am not talking about the process years. I am talking about the period between AI and the Process. Perpetual 8 seeds. Endless mediocrity. Never a real reason for hope. Embiid changed that. he put Sixers Basketball back on the map. As long as he is here, they will be competitive.
The lack of real playoff success so far may be frustrating. But it is far preferable to never having anything to root for in the 1st place.
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6 Things Sixers President Daryl Morey Said When He Joined Our Show
Tyrese Maxey Passed All Tests With Flying Colors
“One big question coming in was Tyrese Maxey. We knew he was an amazing player, but we thought we’d get a better sense of where he’s at with, some of the other roster changes. And we got an even better sense of how he can play as as one of the primary guys when Joel was out. He passed everything with flying colors.”
Boston Is The Best Team He Has Seen Since The Warriors
“Boston’s a juggernaut. I mean, they’re the best team I’ve seen since the Golden State teams we went against when I was in the West. I think the other teams all have question marks. We are one of those teams. We need we need health. We need we need a few things to go our way. The Celtics don’t need a lot to go their way.
We feel very good about matching up with everybody where, you know, in terms of the Celtics that we do match up with them. More than most teams we think we match up pretty well. But they’re playing at a at a really high level. We’ve got to play them eventually if we’re going to reach our goal of winning the championship. So yeah, it’ll be it’ll be a challenge whenever we face them.”
Sees His Team As One of The Favorites
“I think we’re in this weird position of having some significant challenges during the regular season. But we feel like we’re one of the favorites. I don’t see three or 4 or 5 teams better than us. When when we have everyone, which, unfortunately, we don’t have everyone. But we have the horses. We feel like we go in as one of the favorites, but we’ve got the added challenge. It’s pretty rare you have to win one more one-and-done, to maintain being the favorite right up front.”
His Team Is On An Upswing
“In the past few years there was some negative news right before the playoffs. Now we’re on an upswing.
We’ve got Maxey on his ascendency. We have Joel still at this peak. When he’s when he’s been out there this year he’s been better than even his MVP year. We’ve got a mix of veterans that have won tons and tons of playoff games, some of them against me like Batum and Lowry. We’ve got guys who are, showing the league what they can do like the Oubres of the world.
We’ve got an upward trend. We’ve given ourselves an extra battle with Miami. But I feel like going into the playoffs, we have everyone playing on a really nice upward trend.”
His Ideas For the NBA Playoffs Format
“I think they should add more things to make the regular season meaningful. I think the top two teams should get byes. I think there should be even more of a Play-In tournament from seed 5 on. Home court should only go to the top few teams.
Obviously, it hurt us this season. But I do think it’s the right direction for the league. We generally have the least interesting playoffs of any of the major professional teams in terms of the better teams beating the worst teams. So adding drama like this is a positive for the league, even if it’s not positive for the Sixers this year.”
It Was Torture For Him Score Board Watching on Sunday
“Generally just torture. I like the planning part of the job that’s, you know, let’s figure out how to best way to win the championship. Because during the game, especially when it’s, you know, waiting for results from other teams, there’s really a lack of control there. It’s really mostly torture.
Especially when a game going your way is like 8-to 10-point lead and then it flips on you. That’s the part of the job I probably would take out if I could. I wish it could be just the methodical planning without a bunch of randomness if we could avoid it.”
