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Joel Embiid is feeling the consequences of his Philadelphia 76ers not being fully locked-in, giving up a precious opportunity on their home court to bring one back against the Boston Celtics.
Despite a clutch fadeaway jump shot by Marco Belinelli to tie it up in regulation, the Sixers now find themselves down a 3-0 hole after the Celtics took charge in overtime and proved too much to handle.
“We didn’t execute well,” Embiid said, according to Jessica Camerato of NBC Sports Philadelphia. “It’s not on the coaching staff. That’s a play we run all the time and we score all the time on that. So that’s on us. That’s on us for not executing.”
His teammate, Robert Covington expressed hope, despite being completely cognizant of this recently-squandered opportunity.
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“We know that we let that get away from us,” Covington said. “Everybody came in mentally locked in and everyone still believes in the locker room… No one’s down. No one’s defeated.”
The Sixers has one more home game tonight before going back on the road, where they must withstand a ruthless TD Garden crowd if they hope to bring the series within striking reach, now on the brink of elimination.
“Boston has you thinking a lot,” Embiid said. “Sometimes they double, sometimes they dig, sometimes they let you play one-on-one, and sometimes the spacing is not right. It’s a lot of thinking. It’s just on me to figure it out.”
Embiid and company don't have long to figure out this Celtics' puzzle, needing to come through today first before any future hope can take place.
“It’s not easy, but at the same time the series is not over,” Belinelli said. “We just need to keep fighting and tomorrow hope that we’re going to play a good game.”
