In Philadelphia The Philadelphia 76ers are winless after blowing the opportunity to defeat the Milwaukee Bucks in their home debut. Despite their heroic efforts, they were defeated 90–88. The fact that Joel Embiid has not been nearly as dominant thus far is more concerning than the Sixers’ record.
His underwhelming effort in the Sixers’ loss to the Boston Celtics in the season opener was partially concealed by his 26-point, 15-rebound performance. However, he only managed 15 points on 6-21 shooting against the Bucks. He scored all of his points in the opening frame. He had more opportunity to manoeuvre against a less aggressive defence and appeared more interested, but he rapidly lost that spark.
Following the Sixers’ narrow defeat to the Bucks, head coach Doc Rivers defended his top player. He simply didn’t play well. He said, “He’s human. He didn’t have a strong performance. He also helped us tonight in a variety of other ways. He played quite well defensively tonight, in my opinion. Embiid declined to talk to reporters after the event.
The Sixers fell behind by as many as 11 points in the third quarter as Embiid struggled, but they came back in the fourth utilising a lineup with P.J. Tucker at centre. After a difficult game on Tuesday, Embiid led all scorers at halftime and made some excellent defensive attempts to close out on shooters. But after the intermission, the switch was turned around. He made some terrible turnovers and went the rest of the game without scoring.
The 2022–23 Sixers have had a dismal start to the season and need Embiid to turn things around if they are to establish themselves as a serious playoff contender. It’s still very early in the season, so it’s not yet appropriate to dismiss the club and its star centre. But Embiid needs to act quickly and significantly.
Doc Rivers responds to Joel Embiid slander after Sixers defeat to Bucks in the post “He’s human” appeared first on ClutchPoints.
