PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Sixers star Joel Embiid agrees with many fans and critics: James Harden needs to score more.
“I’ve been saying all season since he got here, he just needs to be aggressive and he needs to be himself,” Embiid said after the Sixers’ 103-88 Game 5 loss to the Raptors, shrinking their best-of-seven series lead down to 3-2. Game 6 is scheduled for Thursday night in Toronto.
While Embiid suggested Harden’s 11 shot attempts in Game 5 weren’t enough, he noted that it’s not his responsibility to tell him to be more like the Harden everyone knew during his Houston Rockets days.
“That’s probably on coach [Doc Rivers] to talk to him and tell him to take more shots,” said Embiid, “especially if they’re gonna guard me the way they’ve been guarding. … But, we all need to be better.”
It’s no secret the Raptors often double- or triple-team Embiid when he gets the ball. He said the Sixers needed to attack more as a team in those moments Monday night and not simply pass the ball around the perimeter.
The Sixers looked out of sorts offensively in Game 5 at the Wells Fargo Center, while the less-talented Raptors had a better offensive rhythm, using the shot clock and blowing by the Sixers, whose defense was a stale as bad Swiss cheese, including Embiid.
“I was terrible defensively today,” he admitted. “There’s really no explanation. I guess I just got to play with more energy and move my feet better. I just have to be better.”
Embiid’s right thumb is comprised, wrapped in tape for a torn ligament. He’s been trying to play through it since the Game 3 injury.
While he made an incredible game-winning shot to win Game 3, he didn’t seem like himself in Game 4. Although he saw more action in Game 5, he admitted postgame that he’s “in a situation where I try to protect it.”
“Before I even attack or if I get the ball, it’s almost like I’m not playing freely where I’m like, ‘Well, if I do this I might get hit or I might get hurt.’
“So mentally, I just got to get out of that and hope for the best and just be myself and not think about which move can put me in a bad position to get hit or get hurt even more. I’ll work on it.”
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