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The Boston Celtics overcame the Philadelphia 76ers on Saturday, February 25, courtesy of a clutch Jayson Tatum three-point shot.
Unfortunately, not everything about that night went how Boston would have wanted it to, with Jaylen Brown noting that he received some over-zealous remarks from a certain section of the Sixers fanbase.
“It’s fun playing here. The crowd was a little bit hostile. At moments, people on the side was talking crazy…I started talking to one of the fans because it got a little bit excessive, where it got a little disrespectful and stuff like that. Even before the game, we was entering the arena, and there was people saying ‘we hope your tear your ACL.’ I understand people care, and they love the team that they cheer for, but I think it gets a little excessive at times,” Brown told NBC Sports Boston’s, Abby Chin.
Interestingly, Brown wasn’t the only Celtics player to have an encounter with a Sixers fan, as a video also surfaced online of Marcus Smart engaging with someone during a time-out, leading that fan to get escorted away from the court.
Joel Embiid Frustrated With Sixers Loss
When speaking to the media as part of his post-game press conference, Sixers star big-man Joel Embiid discussed his frustration at letting a 15-point lead slip away, only to lose the game on a late shot from Tatum.
“Man, we were right there,” Embiid said, “Obviously, [they’re a] great team. Like I said last time we played them, they’re extremely deep. On any given night, especially if you know the best player is not playing well, they have a lot of guys that can pick it up. And then for us, I think, you’re right there. Being up 15, I thought we went out ready to play basketball, and we just got to be better, all of us. Especially, I thought, for the most part, before they made that run in the third quarter, we took away their threes. We relaxed a little bit, and that’s, you know, we just got to be better.”
Embiid had a solid night for Philadelphia, finishing the game with an impressive statline of 41 points, 12 rebounds, 5 assists, and 3 blocks on 57.1% shooting from the field and 94.4% shooting on 18 free-throw attempts.
Joel Embiid Believes Tatum Struggled During The Game
In the same press conference, Embiid also noted how Tatum had struggled to assert himself in the game before finding his rhythm down the stretch and ultimately hitting the most important shot of the contest.
“We relaxed. Obviously, Al, he made a couple of huge threes. And Tatum, he got a little bit going in that third quarter, too; before that, he was not very good. Obviously, being up 15, we just relaxed,” Embiid said.
Tatum ended the contest with a disappointing statline of 18 points, 13 rebounds, 6 assists, and 5 turnovers, on 7-of-17 shooting from the field and 3-of-8 shooting from the perimeter. However, the St. Louis native will be hoping to have more of an impact when the Celtics face off against the New York Knicks on Monday, February 27.
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