Joel Embiid believes the 76ers didn’t get the best version of James Harden as he insists the team needs to be more aggressive and toughen up in order to make it to the conference final.
Philadelphia 76ers player Joel Embiid says that the team needs to be aggressive and toughen up in order to breakthrough.
The 76ers suffer 99-90 defeat to the Miami Heats on Thursday night as they see their season come to an end in a twinkle of an eye.
James Harden was a shadow of himself in the game as he was not effective for the 76ers in the game as he 11 shots what he got.
Speaking to the media after the game Joel Embiid stated that the version of James Harden was not what they expect.
He added that the team needs to be aggressive and be tough in order for the to breakthrough and make into the conference final.
“Since we got him, everybody expected the Houston James Harden,” Embiid said. “But that’s not who he is anymore. He’s more of a playmaker. I thought, at times, he could have been, as all of us could have been, more aggressive. All of us whether it was Tyrese [Maxey] or Tobias [Harris] or guys coming off the bench.
“And I’m not just talking about offensively. I’m talking about you know, as a whole offensively and defensively. I didn’t think we were good defensively as a team. They took advantage of a lot of stuff that we tried to do defensively. And then offensively just really everybody being on the same page, obviously, only having probably what, three or four months to all work together and try to figure it out. Maybe it wasn’t a lot of time. … I don’t think we played our best basketball.
“Everybody’s got to get better,” Embiid said. “It’s not just not just about me or [Harden]. From 1 through 15, there’s a reason why we lost to Miami. That means we all were not good enough. So everybody just has to be better.”
Meanwhile, Embiid stated that he still expects to have surgery on the torn ligament in his right thumb, but that he doesn’t expect he’ll need it for his facial fracture. And he admitted that, after getting through the regular season healthy for the first time in his career, he added that he is disappointed his season ended with him playing through multiple injuries that kept him from being his best.
“I don’t regret it because it’s life,” Embiid said. “It happens. You just got to deal with it. It sucks. Not not looking for any excuses. But those are just the facts. It sucks. I don’t think anybody will believe that I was 100%. So it does suck to get to the stage and not be yourself, not being able to do what you want, and your body not allowing you to just be yourself. So it sucks, but I have no regrets.”
