Joel Embiid takes responsibility for Sixers falling short late to Wizards
WASHINGTON–The Philadelphia 76ers had a chance late against the Washington Wizards on the road on Tuesday. After falling behind by 16 points, they worked their way back into the game and they were within 111-108 with 2:05 left.
After that, Joel Embiid had a turnover, De’Anthony Melton missed a layup, Embiid then missed a layup, Georges Niang missed an open triple, and Embiid missed another layup. It all resulted in the Wizards coming away with a 116-111 win to snap Philadelphia’s 8-game winning streak.
“It was all on me,” said Embiid who had a casual 48 points on the night. “I had a bad last two minutes. That is on me.”
With that being said, the Sixers got some really good looks late. The looks Embiid, Niang, and Melton all had were makable shots. They just didn’t execute and it cost them a win.
“The last few possession, we got good shots,” said coach Doc Rivers. “We got Georges a great shot out of a timeout, got Joel a layup out of a timeout, but it was already—I mean, listen, it would’ve been great to steal the game tonight, but they deserved it so much more than us tonight. They play so much harder. Really, I’m just disappointed with how we approached the game tonight.”
To Rivers’ point, the Wizards shot 55.8% in the first half and scored 67 points as Philadelphia couldn’t find a stop. While Embiid was on fire with 26 points at halftime, they couldn’t get a stop on the other end to build any momentum.
So that begs the question of whether the Sixers overlooked the Wizards despite some talent on their side such as Bradley Beal and Kristaps Porzingis.
“I don’t think I did, and I don’t think my teammates did either,” said Embiid. “It’s the NBA. You can lose on any given night. That’s a good team that got a lot of good players. Brad, Porzingis, (Kyle) Kuzma, and all those guys. So that’s a good team. They’re better than what their record is, but that’s not an excuse to lose against them. We just didn’t have it tonight.”
The Sixers will continue the road trip on Friday against the New Orleans Pelicans.
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Player grades: Sixers have winning streak snapped in loss to Wizards
