It was yet another disappointing exit in the Eastern Conference Semifinals for the Philadelphia 76ers as they were blown out by the Boston Celtics in Game 7.
Afterward, Joel Embiid quoted a part of the speech on failure given by Giannis Antetokounmpo after he was eliminated in the first round. Embiid stated that he looks at it as steps to success and not a failure but former NFL player and current analyst Emmanuel Acho isn’t happy he said that.
“Dear Joel Embiid, The person who said this is an NBA CHAMPION. The person who said this brought his franchise their first championship in 50 years. The person who said this had 38 & 20 in his elimination game. Don’t borrow Giannis’ quote unless you borrow his heart as well!”
Dear Joel Embiid,
The person who said this is an NBA CHAMPION. The person who said this brought his franchise their first championship in 50 years. The person who said this had 38 & 20 in his elimination game. Don’t borrow Giannis’ quote unless you borrow his heart as well! https://t.co/Fhw4AnDsxr
— Emmanuel Acho (@EmmanuelAcho) May 15, 2023
That is quite harsh from Acho, although he is far from the only one who was left disappointed with Embiid’s effort in Game 7. The league MVP only had 15 points, 8 rebounds, 1 assist, and 2 blocks as the Sixers lost 112-88. Considering he had scored at least 25 points in each of the four games prior to this, you can’t really use his injury as an excuse for this poor showing. Even Antetokounmpo was injured in the series against the Miami Heat and while he didn’t play well in Game 5, he gave maximum effort and you can’t necessarily say that about Embiid.
Giannis despite winning that title in 2021 received some pushback when he said the season was not a failure, as Shaquille O’Neal strongly disagreed with him. If you are someone like Embiid, who has never even made the Conference Finals, people are not going to take it too well if you claim it is a step to success, considering you’ve never come close to achieving success on a team level.
Joel Embiid Had A Rough Postseason Yet Again
Embiid averaged a career-high 33.1 PPG in the regular season as he led the league, but once again, he wasn’t able to replicate that success in the playoffs. He only averaged 23.7 PPG, 9.8 RPG, 2.7 APG, and 2.8 BPG while shooting 43.1% from the field and 17.9% from beyond the arc.
The drop-off in scoring was the largest in the playoffs for an MVP in NBA history, which tells you just how bad it was. He had led the league in scoring last season as well at 30.6 PPG only for it to drop to 23.6 PPG in the playoffs. It is getting to a point now where he is starting to gain a reputation as someone who doesn’t get the job done in the postseason.
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