Joel Embiid Says Sixers Played Terribly In Round 2, Game 1 Loss To Celtics [VIDEO]

Joel Embiid said after the Philadelphia 76ers’ 117-101 second-round loss to the Celtics in Game 1 in Boston on Monday that his team was nowhere near its best that night; in fact, they were at their worst.

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“It starts on defense. I thought I was s—ty. I thought we were all bad tonight,” Embiid said, according to ESPN, after the Sixers’ brutal loss. “That’s not who we are, definitely. I think when everybody’s on, we’re the best defensive team in the game. There’s a lot of stuff that we game-planned that we didn’t execute.”

Embiid finished relatively strong despite the defeat: he had 31 points and 13 rebounds, while Ben Simmons added 18 points, seven rebounds and six assists, although he also had seven turnovers.

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Sixers coach Brett Brown echoed Embiid’s sentiments, saying the team’s defense in particular was very sloppy.

“I thought this was one of our poorer defensive games,” said Brown.

The Celtics finished with 17 3-pointers on Monday. Terry Rozier contributed a team-high 29 points, as well as eight rebounds and six assists. Jayson Tatum added 28 points. Marcus Smart had nine points and nine assists. Boston earned the win at TD Garden despite missing two of their top scores from this past regular season, Jaylen Brown and Kyrie Irving. Brown sat out with a hamstring strain.

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According to ESPN, the Sixers missed 15 of their first 20 shots. Simmons said Philadelphia needs to re-evaluate how to log more assists each game.

Game 2 is set for Thursday at 8:30pm EST in Boston. The contest will air on TNT.

Article by Pablo Mena