Embiid puts blame on himself for Game 3 meltdown
CAMDEN » Ben Simmons has taken his licks in this, his stunning first playoff failure.
Brett Brown is on top of everybody’s blame list for ingame moves that some think have led to the Boston Celtics’ three games to none, Eastern Conference semifinals lead in this, Brown’s first playoff year as a head coach.
So what of the other hydra in the Sixers’ three-headed blame game? Joel Embiid showed Sunday that he’s quite willing to be part of that process, too.
“We’re OK, we’re good,” Embiid said after practice on the eve of Game 4, a 6 p.m. start Monday night at Wells Fargo Center.
“We know what we’ve got to do,” Embiid added. “It’s never been done before, so you can’t let it bother you. You’ve just got to take it one day at a time, one game at a time, one quarter at a time. And then we’ll be fine.”
If they complete such a dream scenario, the Sixers indeed would be the first NBA team to resurrect from an 0-3 playoff crypt in ... forever. It’s been tried only 129 times before.
“This team has been through a lot over the past year, so this is not something we’re holding our heads on,” Robert Covington said. “We know we’re playing against history or whatnot, but like Coach (Brown) said (Saturday night), ‘Why can’t we be the first ones to do it?’
“Guys came in with a different mentality today. We don’t feel like we’re down 0-3. So it’s just a matter of making a few adjustments. That’s what we did today and then it’s coming out in Game 4 and playing better.”
They’ll certainly have to do that just to avoid a sweep. Simmons is going to have to stop stopping at the top of the key and looking to pass. He’s going to have to attack the basket at least more than every now and then. And as Brown pointed out, Simmons would do well to try something different, too, especially when Terry Rozier is on solo coverage.
“Pass and just go to the front of the rim. Just bury him,” Brown said. “We talked about that. I like the attack, but I like him running to the front of the rim and posting up with Rozier a little more, too.”
So there’s an adjustment you can expect to see Monday night, with perhaps a little more defensive intensity and a lot more crossed fingers every time Dario Saric or Covington try to score from outside.
Other than that ... what of Jo-Jo the Avenger?
It ain’t the mask, he’d say. It’s the man.
“Boston has you thinking a lot,” Embiid said. “Sometimes they double, sometimes they dig, sometimes they let you go 1-on-1 and sometimes the spacing’s not right. So it’s a lot of things. We just need to figure it out. That’s the first thing, figure it out and then kind of change things.”
The first thing Embiid would like to change is the mask he has to wear due to that orbital bone fracture he suffered near the end of the regular season. The one that got old fast for him. Yet he says the mask wasn’t the problem in Game 3’s overtime loss.
“Everything I’m able to do I’ve been doing in this series,” Embiid said. “I won’t put that on the mask. It’s on me.”
Considering he scored 22 points and pulled down 19 rebounds in 41 minutes, you wonder how much Embiid should wish to change for Game 4. But he does wish it just the same.
“I’ve missed a lot of easy (shots),” Embiid said. “I think a lot of it is on me. I’ve missed about seven or eight hook shots, which as a big man I should be able to make those.”
Without those misses, Embiid added, “You don’t really talk about me being inefficient in the post. So I have to do a better job of making shots.”
Of course, there were moments right near the end of regulation and in the waning seconds of overtime that Embiid, his teammates and coaches and certainly all of the Sixers’ fans wish they had back.
JJ Redick, his team in an 87all deadlock with the Celtics, takes a pass from Simmons, who veers toward the lane ... and essentially right into the wandering Embiid, knocking him down. Redick, apparently expecting Embiid to emerge, had already tossed a pass toward where he thought Embiid should be ... turnover.
Celtics promptly rush the other way and score with 1.7 seconds left. But that was enough time for Marco Belinelli to launch a buzzer beater from near the corner and right in ... for a game-tying two.
The play was set up to be a three-pointer, which is what Brett Brown and the (still employed?) Sixers Confetti Guy thought happened ... until further review. No matter, for the Sixers still had a chance to win, down one in overtime and ... another turnover. This time off a Simmons in-bounds pass short of Embiid, allowing Al Horford to pick it off and go the other way for what would end up to be two free throws to ice it.
Sports can be a cruel world sometimes. But Embiid has already learned to put the weight of it all on his shoulders.
“We didn’t execute well,” Embiid said. “That’s not on anybody. That’s not on the coaching staff.”
Referencing that turnover near the end of regulation, Embiid said, “That’s a play that we run all the time. So that’s on us for not executing.”
As for the game-killing overtime gift, Embiid added, “That can go both ways, but you can say I could have gone to the ball more . ... The way I was thinking was like if I catch it on the three-point line I’m not as efficient as if I catch it inside, so you can go both ways. That’s not (Simmons’) fault. He saw me, I was open and I should have gone to the ball. So it’s my fault for not going to the ball. Nobody else’s fault but me.”
Don’t be surprised to hear Brown disagree.
“Maybe Jo could have stepped to the ball a little bit harder, maybe Ben could have thrown an air-timed pass to 7-foot-2, maybe-maybe,” Brown said. “You’d like to have those two turnovers back ... and we wished Marco was six inches further out with that play. We wanted to look for a walk-off 3, and we thought we had one.”
Maybe. Maybe the Sixers can be the first team in history to make it all not matter?