By Ty Anderson, 985TheSportsHub.com
Forced to hold court with the press and discuss yet another loss to the Celtics, Philadelphia superstar Joel Embiid had some choice words for the officials that reffed Tuesday night’s 112-109 Boston victory.
Joel Embiid just closed his presser leaning into the mic saying, “The referees fucking suck” and left
— Kyle Neubeck (@KyleNeubeck) February 13, 2019
Language!
In addition to this one finishing up as Philadelphia’s 21st loss in their last 24 head-to-heads with the Celtics, Embiid’s issues with the zebras undoubtedly come back to what he believes was a foul by the Celtics’ Al Horford on a late-game possession that could have set the Sixers up for victory against the Kyrie-less Green.
Turnovers with the game on the line... Just hate to see that from Embiid. pic.twitter.com/3k4nhEaW6q
— Holiday Mickstape (@MickstapeShow) February 13, 2019
Strangely enough, Embiid failed to mention the 31-21 free throw advantage the Sixers held over the Celtics by the night’s end (and that’s including the intentional fouling that benefitted the C’s total late in the fourth quarter), or the 18 three-point shots his team bricked in a losing effort that saw them shoot just 9-for-27 from deep. Or the continued excellence of Horford in this compelling one-on-one matchup, as Embiid dismissed that by saying he was “sleep-walking for three quarters.”
Embiid did take ownership of a separate late-game mistake with the timeout-less Sixers down by three with 2.9 seconds left in the fourth quarter, though, calling himself ‘an idiot’ for putting an offensive board home versus of finding a teammate.
“I should’ve kicked it out or took it out and shot it,” Embiid admitted. “I didn’t think about the situation and us not having a timeout. I thought we had one, and as soon as I shot it, I looked and said, ‘I’m stupid.’ But, like I said, that’s on me.
“I need to do a better job.”
The C’s and Sixers conclude their season series Mar. 20 in Philadelphia, giving Embiid plenty of time to wake up and/or make up some new excuses for his team’s shortcomings against the Celtics.