After the Philadelphia 76ers failed to close the deal in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals, Boston Celtics star Jaylen Brown praised the officiating during his postgame press conference for not falling for the Sixers’ players who sell contact, ie flopping.
“(The Sixers) are tough. Their pick-and-roll is hard, depending on how they’re officiated in the game. I thought they did a good job tonight by not letting some of those guys flop who are known to do that. They didn’t give them some of those plays, and they thought they were going to get ’em because they were at home, and the refs stayed solid,” Brown said, per CLNS Media’s YouTube Channel.
Brown added that it was great to see because how that kind of play, according to him, is “not basketball.”
While not naming any names, Brown’s words were likely to be directed at Joel Embiid and James Harden, knowing their abilities to draw free throws. Despite their reputations, Harden and Embiid managed to draw 13 free throws combined in Game 6, and both failed to score in the last eight minutes of the game.
James Harden Vents Frustration About Officiating
During his postgame press conference, Harden vented his frustration over not having any fouls called in his favor since he believes he draws more fouls on his defender than what gets called.
“Tonight was just frustrating because I’m number one as far as fouls that don’t get called. It’s a fact. So it’s frustrating as a player. So when officiating tells you at halftime ‘We missed a couple of fouls’. That right there. There was some missed shots and fouls, which was giving me a rhythm to transition points for them,” Harden said during his postgame press conference, per NBA Today’s YouTube Channel.
Harden added that he believed he did a good job on the offensive end anyway while praising the Celtics for their defensive game plan.
“I’m not gonna look at my shooting percentage. I did a lot of really good things offensively. Defensively, they did a really good job of like their game plan was to pack the paint. They started two bigs, and they packed the paint. So they forced us to make shots.”
Despite the loss at home, the Sixers will get another chance to end the series in Boston in Game 7.
Joel Embiid Complains About Lack of Touches Late in Game 6
The last basket Embiid scored in Game 6 came at the 6:13 mark, tying the game at 81 apiece. After that Embiid only had two more field goal attempts which were bricked.
During his postgame press conference, Embiid talked about what went wrong, including that he didn’t get any shot attempts past the 4:00 mark of the fourth quarter.
“I think it was three things. We had a lot of wide-open shots, we didn’t make them. We stopped moving the ball, and I don’t think I touched the ball the last four minutes of the game. Like I said, we missed a lot of good looks. I didn’t touch the ball at all.”
“I think it was 3 things. We had a lot of wide open shots, we didn’t make them. We stopped moving the ball. I don’t think I touched the ball the last 4 minutes of the game… I didn’t touch the ball at all.”
Joel Embiid on the Sixers late-game offense
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Jaylen Brown Takes Possible Jab at Joel Embiid, James Harden After Sixers Loss