Getty Bradley Beal of the Washington Wizards, Joel Embiid of the Philadelphia 76ers
After the Philadelphia 76ers defeated the Washington Wizards on March 12, Wizards star Bradley Beal singled out Sixers star Joel Embiid for what went wrong for the Wizards in the second half.
“Embiid. He’s doing that to everybody, so. I mean, you gotta give up something, you know?” Beal told reporters after the game. “He’s going to bury you in the paint. He’s going to take our bigs out to the perimeter, put us in rotations because we got to double him or give him mid-range jumpers. We gave him mid-range [jumpers], and he hit them.”
Though the Sixers pulled off a 112-93 victory, they have split their season series against the Wizards at 2-2.
Damian Lillard Calls Out Sixers
Portland Trail Blazers’ star Damian Lillard called out the Sixers for not supporting former Sixer Matisse Thybulle before they traded him to Portland.
Lillard explained to Justin Grasso of Sports Illustrated that a team having support for a player can be very helpful in their progression. He believes Portland has provided that since trading for Thybulle and does not believe Philadelphia did that.
“Sometimes you just need that support, you need that love, you need people to believe in you, and I’ve seen it make a world of difference for a lot of players,” Lillard said. “It’s hard being in this league fighting, trying to earn your stay, and you’re in an environment where people don’t believe in you. It just makes it that much harder. I just wanted to encourage (Thybulle) [and] show my belief in him.”
Thybulle’s role on the Trail Blazers is much bigger compared to the role he had with the Sixers before the trade. In 49 games with the Sixers this season, Thybulle averaged 12.1 minutes a game, compared to the Trail Blazers where he’s averaging 29 minutes a game in 12 games thus far.
At the same time, Portland has to decide if they want to keep Thybulle around for the long haul since he will be approaching restricted free agency this summer.
Joel Embiid & James Harden Sound Off on Road Trip
After beating the Wizards, the Sixers will start a road trip in which they will play seven of their next games away from Philadelphia, starting with their game against the Cleveland Cavaliers on March 15.
Embiid and James Harden opened up about their crucial stretch coming up to Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer.
“We got to win those games,” Embiid said. “That’s a good test for the playoffs. You got to go out on the road and steal a couple. That’s our goal. Obviously, we’ve been good.
“We got a couple good tests coming up. So we just got to be ready and make sure everybody is on the same page.”
Harden vocalized his confidence for their upcoming road games, using their record on the road as proof.
“We’ve been pretty solid on the road all year long,” James Harden said, “so [it’s] one game at a time, and no matter who we’re playing, stick to what we do and try to be the best 76ers we can be.”