Subscribe
Follow Us
Joel Embiid managed to suit up for Game 2 against the Toronto Raptors, despite his status being murky after dealing with symptoms of gastroenteritis before Monday's tip-off. The Philadelphia 76ers big man told teammate Jimmy Butler to get the win, given that he was doing all he could to be out on the floor:
“He was amazing,” Embiid said of Butler. “I told him before the game: ‘Go get this one.' Obviously I wasn't feeling well. I told him that he had to carry us, and he did that. That was amazing. That was a great win on the road. Now we have to take our business at home.”
New video: Interviewing Joel Embiid on the court after Game 2 where he says he told Jimmy Butler to carry the Sixers since he was playing sick pic.twitter.com/lTXkYFEzEc
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) April 30, 2019
Butler showed up formidably, putting up a team-high 30 points along with 11 rebounds, five assists and a blocked shot to pace the Sixers, who have tied the series at 1-1 heading back to the Wells Fargo Center for the next two games.
Article Continues Below
The Sixers now have a chance to go up in the series by winning both games at home, but Embiid noted the defense and discipline must be there first:
“We just gotta stick to the game plan,” said Embiid. “We turned the ball over a lot today, going into this series. We knew that that's what they do, they turn people over, so we got to do a better job with that. The defensive game plan? I gotta do what I can. Obviously everybody had a good defensive game today, so we gotta do the same thing in Game 3 and Game 4.”
Philly turned the ball over a whopping 19 times on Monday and still survived. The sure-handed Raptors only turned the ball over nine times for the entire game. If this trend continues, it would only make Sixers' wins all the more difficult moving forward.
