Embiid, Covington won’t forget earlier doubters

BOSTON » Not content to assume his place in the ever-rolling rivalry between the 76ers and the Boston Celtics, Joel Embiid Wednesday chose to announce an open-enrollment opportunity to his enemies list.

After practice a day before the Sixers and Celtics would play Game 2 of the Eastern Conference semifinals at the TD Bank Garden, the Sixers’ center offered a new target. Look out, long-ago critics. “I kind of hold grudges,” Embiid said, seated in a front-row bleacher at Harvard. “Because people used to tell us that we were the laughingstock of the whole NBA. Now, everybody is talking about us.”

The Sixers are popular because they won 52 games and a spot in Round 2 of the postseason. For two days, though, they have been talked about as a team that lost by 16 points in Game 1 at the Garden and must make adjustments in order to win Game 2 Thursday night at 8:30.

Fair or not, to borrow a description of basketball conversation favored by Brett Brown, the Sixers are at a crossroads in terms of

perception. They have won 20 of their last 22, but just three of their last five. And if they were a source of comedy since Embiid’s arrival in 2014, it was because the organization willingly invited horrid basketball with the semi-promise of later excellence.

Embiid, though, is displeased with how the Sixers were perceived before, and how that reflects their perception, so many years and victories later.

“First of all, we have a lot of talent,” Embiid said. “And the coach, we love him and each other. And just the way we play, moving the ball and sharing the ball, there is no one who is selfish. We want to do this together. That’s the way the coach put this together and we have to keep going. We have a lot of talent and we’ve got a pretty good chance.”

Since Embiid chose the two-day break between Games 1 and 2 to reopen healing wounds, he understood it would come with an obligation: If there are lurking critics lurking prepared to bombard the Sixers with more laughter, then the only way they will be shooed away is with a lengthy postseason run … or more.