The Philadelphia 76ers continued their struggles in Toronto as they have now lost 14 consecutive road games to the Raptors in the regular season after a 101-96 loss on Monday night. The loss was mostly due to the struggles of Joel Embiid who went scoreless for the first time during his exceptional NBA career.
Embiid accepted responsibility for the loss after shooting 0-for-11 while committing four turnovers and five fouls in the game. Toronto’s Marc Gasol did a helluva job against Embiid and the double teams the Raptors sent at him were tough for him to figure out.
Coach Brett Brown acknowledged it was tough for him as he stated:
It’s all about him quarterbacking the gym. They double teamed him every single catch and I thought there were times he did a really good job of inviting that, and passing out of it. We shot a lot of threes because they doubled him and that’s what the game produced. I thought we did a pretty good job from time to time of getting off the post, and passing it around and trying to find his floor spots. You give Marc Gasol, a former defensive player of the year, credit, and Toronto credit. But it was a long night for Joel.
The Sixers had recently acknowledged that Embiid was passing much better out of the double teams, but that was certainly not the case on Monday as he had the rough night. The superstar big man acknowledged that he wasn’t fatigued or anything of the sort, he just needs to be better. He said:
I didn’t look fatigued and I was definitely not fatigued. Obviously, the defensive scheme … they were trying to make sure I didn’t touch the ball, and that forced me into a lot of tough shots. It didn’t matter … Marc didn’t help on the picks I was setting and on the post, obviously, they were doubling from the time the ball was in the air. When you’re not making shots, it’s tough, but I tried to take advantage of it by setting screens and holding it until my teammates got open.
Embiid and the Sixers will look to get back on track on Wednesday when they host the Sacramento Kings on Thanksgiving Eve. [lawrence-related id=20037,20031,19988]