The Philadelphia 76ers clinched the 7th seed in the Eastern Conference after defeating the Miami Heat in the 7-8 play-in game. Following a 105-104 narrow victory (per NBA.com), Joel Embiid spoke about the 1-point win that his team grabbed. Being down by 14 points at one point in the contest, Embiid credited the trust between players as the reason for the comeback.
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Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey, two of the best players on the Philadelphia 76ers, had a subpar shooting display. Between the All-Star duo, they knocked down just 12 out of their 33 field goal attempts. However, despite having a cold night, and even missing the rim entirely fairly often, the remaining Sixers players kept displaying faith in their leaders. During the postgame interview, Embiid explained how this trust among the teammates was a huge reason behind the comeback win.
“I feel like I was proud of just the way we played because at times it was tough with all the attention… I felt like we just kept trusting each other over and over. After missed shots – we had a couple of airballs, I did airball, Tyrese did airball so we just didn’t stop,” Joel Embiid said.
With the Embiid-Maxey pairing only recording a total of 42 points and 11 assists, Nicolas Batum stepped up big time. Trusting the Frenchman to be the number 1 option during many different big moments in the game, Batum lodged 20 points on merely 12 attempts. This only furthered Embiid’s point about every player on the 76ers having faith in one another.
“We just kept trusting each other and I think that’s what will help us move forward,” Embiid told a reporter.
On-court and off-court chemistry play a huge role in any championship team. As seen in Philly’s 2023 postseason appearance with James Harden also on the squad, the squad just didn’t seem to be on the same page. As a result, the star-studded roster was embarrassingly eliminated in the Eastern Conference Semifinals.
Embiid is hoping to rectify the mistakes that the Pennsylvania side made last time. With the team’s form in, the Sixers are surely the dark horse in the Eastern Conference. If they manage to stick to their 2023 MVP’s plans and keep trusting each other, lifting the Larry O’Brien trophy doesn’t seem like an impossible task by any stretch of the imagination.
