Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid boasted that his team was better than the Knicks after leading them 2-0 in a heartbreaking Game 2 in the first round of an NBA playoff series. However, on Monday night, I couldn’t hide my dissatisfaction.
And former 76er and TNT analyst Charles Barkley wasn’t happy with Embiid’s lack of leadership after Philadelphia’s 104-101 loss.
“What I expect from Joel is he has to keep his head up,” Barkley said. during the post game show. “As the leader of the team, he can’t keep his head down.
“He’s got to say, ‘Guys, we’re fine.’ They did what they had to do. Now, we’ve got to go home and win Game 3 and Game 4. ”
After a disastrous loss in which he took the lead on a Tyrese Maxey turnover and subsequent 3-pointer by Donte DiVincenzo, Embiid slammed the referees for not calling a foul on an inbounds play.
“But forget about the timeouts. There were a lot of fouls. Like I said, that’s very unacceptable,” Embiid said, holding his head and scratching his eyes.
The team decided to file a complaint with the league over the officiating, as the officiating did not give timeouts to Nick Nurse or other 76ers.
However, as TNT staff pointed out, Philadelphia should have taken a timeout right after Jalen Brunson’s 3-pointer hit the front iron and dropped, cutting the Sixers’ lead to 101-99.
Barkley and Shaquille O’Neal pointed out that if Brunson’s 3-pointer bounced like Alan Houston’s, there should have been an immediate timeout.
Even though Kyle Lowry was about to pass to Maxey, Nurse still hadn’t motioned for time to expire, and Barkley said, “I’m calling timeout right now.”
Afterwards, there was a debate as to whether the Knicks fouled Maxey while inbounds. Shaq called the play “subjective” and said there was no way Maxey would “flop around” during such an important play.
“When you get the ball on the wing, you can’t just flop around and flop around looking for the bell,” Shaq said. “Did he get fouled? Maybe. But he still has to grab it and hold it.”
The 76ers will get another chance Thursday at 7:30 p.m. ET in Philadelphia. There, Embiid will try to lead his team in a must-win game.
