The Philadelphia 76ers had a tough night overall on Saturday as they fell to the Boston Celtics 116-95 on the road, but the one individual who struggled the most was superstar Joel Embiid.
Playing in his third game back after missing nine games due to rehabbing from surgery on his left hand, Embiid had a tough night shooting 1-for-11 and scoring 11 points along with four turnovers. All of the turnovers came in the first quarter when Boston blitzed them with a lot of energy and passion that the Sixers could not match.
“They’re a heavy double team,” said Ben Simmons. “They double every time. It’s also tough when you’ve got guys down there scrapping and getting all over Jo and get the ball back so it’s tough on him.”
Simmons’ analysis was shared by the rest of the team as they also agreed that he was not able to get any clear looks on that end of the floor.
“They doubled and whatnot,” said Tobias Harris. “I just think it was tough for him to get into a rhythm and get going. We’ve got to find a way to get him some easy baskets, get him some momentum plays because we know when he’s going, it makes us a better team.”
Al Horford, who had nine points and nine rebounds, believed Boston did a good job of sending him a lot of different looks. A mix of doubling and a mix of a lot of different defensive schemes.
“I think they did a good job of mixing it up,” said Horford. “We need to identify better getting him the ball in better places when we’re feeding it in there and I think at times we kind of let them off the hook a little bit, but they did a good job of doubling him and doing that. He could never get into a rhythm.”
Al Horford gives his thoughts on why Joel Embiid struggled tonight #Sixers pic.twitter.com/UCUMTd1os2
— Ky Carlin (@Ky_Carlin) February 2, 2020
When it comes to the doubling, that is something that coach Brett Brown really needs to figure out why they are having the issues they have been with Embiid in terms of the doubles.
“I give credit to Boston’s physicality,” said Brown. “He didn’t start the game well with turnovers. I think we had seven in the first period, he had four of those, and they came at him. They came at him off the dribble. I think they were physical with him with a crowd. We just didn’t start well with him. He had the first basket and after that, I didn’t believe we did as well a job as we need to do to get him the ball.”
The Sixers will now head to Miami on Monday to face the Heat to try and pick up the first win on this four-game trip. [lawrence-related id=24689,24674,24653]