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First, Charles Barkley pounced on the Sixers’ recent struggles. Now his partner at the TNT analyst desk is following suit.
Shaquille O’Neal, arguably the greatest big man in NBA history, mocked Joel Embiid and his work ethic at halftime of the Sixers-Bucks game on Thursday night. O’Neal didn’t hold back at all in his heavy criticism of the Sixers All-Star center. The Sixers have lost four straight games, including five consecutive road losses, as the drama builds inside the locker room.
As the TV monitors showed replays of Embiid lackadaisically getting up and down the court, along with looking at the refs for foul calls, O’Neal flat-out called Embiid soft and praised Giannis Antetokounmpo for owning him in the paint. Antetokounmpo finished with 36 points and 20 rebounds while Embiid was held to 19 and 11.
O’Neal had jokes, too. He said Embiid was playing “soft, with a capital T-T-T-T-T-T” and then poked fun at Embiid for having a “little band-aid on his little hand.” (Embiid has been playing with a small cast on his left hand after dislocating his finger). The Hall-of-Famer also referred to the Sixers’ big man as a “baby.” True or not, the criticism was harsh.
Embiid shot an alarming 6-of-26 from the field and then told reporters after the game that he needed to get back to having fun.
“I’m trying to get back to the fun Joel,” Embiid said, via The Inquirer’s Keith Pompey. “Smile a little more. The whole season, I kind of told myself I was going to be serious. I felt like everybody just looked at it in a way that I’m moody or I do not care. I do.”
Sixers Prepping for Ja Morant & Memphis Grizzlies
The Sixers won’t have any time to feel sorry for themselves following their 112-101 loss in Milwaukee. Philadelphia returns to the friendly confines of the Wells Fargo Center tonight to host the surging Memphis Grizzlies. The Sixers are 22-2 at home this year, versus 9-19 on the road.
Ja Morant, the starry-eyed darling of last year’s NCAA Tournament, is averaging 17.4 points and 7.0 assists in 29.8 minutes per game for the Grizzlies. He’s a favorite to win Rookie of the Year honors and has helped Memphis win six of their last seven contests.
Morant went for 21 points on Wednesday night in a 121-107 win over Dallas. Unlike the dumpster fire simmering in the Sixers’ locker room, the rookie talked about the unselfish attitude on Memphis.
“We have very unselfish guys on this team and our mindset is ‘We over Me’ when we’re on the floor,” Morant told reporters, via The Inquirer’s Marc Narducci. “We’re trying to give up a good shot for a great shot, feel like everybody knows that everybody’s on the team and how they want to play and where they want the ball at. It just makes us better.”
Morant’s comments were quite the contrast from what Joel Embiid told reporters a few days ago. The Sixers All-Star center seemed to indicate that his team has no identity on offense and he never knows when or if he’s getting the ball.
“Our offense has not been good,” Embiid told reporters. “Like I said from time to time, you don’t know what you are getting. I don’t know if I’m going into the game and if I am getting the ball or not.”
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