It’s Joel Embiid who will lead the Philadelphia 76ers to success, but he needs some help as well. Even for the 2023 NBA MVP, it requires a team effort to defeat a talented team like the Boston Celtics. He scored 30 points and hauled in 13 boards in Game 3, but the Sixers lost 114-102.
James Harden especially needs to perform better. In Games 2 and 3, he shot a combined 5-28 from the floor after going 3-14 in Game 3 at home. In Game 1, he scored 45 points on 17-30 shooting. It is safe to say that the Sixers will take Harden’s 11 assists and six rebounds as a positive, but the team still needs more when his shot isn’t falling.
From Embiid’s perspective, when he isn’t shooting well, he tries to emulate NBA legend Bill Russell on defense, doing the dirty work and generating good looks for his teammates on offense.
NBA NEWS & PLAYOFFS: Joel Embiid, James Harden, Philadelphia 76ers & Boston Celtics Updates
“I mean, you just talk to him and you just keep telling him to keep shooting, be aggressive,” said Embiid. “That’s why you can’t get too high. You can’t get too low. Some nights, you’re gonna make a lot a lot of shots, a lot of tough ones, and some nights, you’re not gonna make them. So it’s about finding all the ways to impact the game.
“For example, for myself, if I’m not making shots, I know that I got to take another step defensively,” Embiid explained. “I got to become Bill Russell, defensively, to kinda have a bigger impact. In those situations, that’s the way I see it. I gotta get my teammates more involved and that’s for me.
“As for him, obviously, it’s up to him to figure it out how to best help us, but I think like I said, it’s fine,” Embiid finished. “Sometimes you make them. Sometimes you miss them. We made a lot of shots in Game 1. The last few games, it hasn’t been going in. I have the trust in him to just turn him to keep being aggressive and keep shooting.”
NBA NEWS & PLAYOFFS: Joel Embiid, James Harden, Philadelphia 76ers & Boston Celtics Updates
On Sunday afternoon, the Sixers face a crucial Game 4 at the Wells Fargo Center. Failing to get a win would put Philadelphia down 3-1 in the series heading back to TD Garden.
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