Sixers’ Joel Embiid responds to chants from Knicks fans after Game 5
NEW YORK — Philadelphia 76ers superstar big man Joel Embiid is currently public enemy No. 1 in New York City. The fans of the New York Knicks have turned their ire toward him after a flagrant-1 foul on Mitchell Robinson in Philadelphia’s Game 3 win.
On Tuesday as the series shifted back to New York, Embiid drew a lot of hatred from the Madison Square Garden crowd. A lot of “(Expletive) Embiid” chants and a lot of hostility was thrown his way.
After a wild 112-106 overtime win to keep their season alive, Embiid addressed the chants he has received.
“It’s not hostile, I love New York,” said Embiid. “New York is one of my favorite cities in the world. I have a place here for the past five years. I just love New York. The fans, when you play against a team, you know they are always going to pick that guy and they seemed to have picked it’s fine. I love it. If I got to be the punching bag and you hear a lot of ‘F Embiid’ that’s OK, I love it.”
With that being said, one has to figure Embiid feeds off that to try and perform to the best of his ability. Anything for motivation at this stage of the game.
“It usually gets me going in those situations because you want to push yourself in those situations and kind of shut them up,” Embiid added. “I think as long as you keep it basketball–they be doing a great job just supporting the team. They are being amazing. That’s why they are the Knicks, they get hype about everything and they’ve been doing a fantastic job.”
The Sixers will now look to force a Game 7 back in New York when they host the Knicks in Game 6 on Thursday.
