Joel Embiid was far from being why the Philadelphia 76ers lost their second-round series to the Atlanta Hawks with a 103-96 Game 7 loss on Sunday.
However, the veteran big man shouldered some of the blame in an apology to Sixers fan on social media.
While Sixers fans were placing much of the blame on Doc Rivers and Ben Simmons, they, for the most part, responded to Embiid’s message with understanding.
After the game, Embiid expressed frustration with himself, the officials and his teammates:
“[I] just gotta be better. Personally I felt like I took a huge step this year, and there’s so much more I can do,” Embiid said, according to CBS Sports. “I can be so much better… There’s so much more I can do. I progressed a lot this year, and next year I’m going to be even better… It’s on me. I got to be better. I got to take another step with it comes to taking care of my body, and my game as a whole because I still feel like I have a lot of untapped potential that people haven’t really seen.”
The 27-year-old played through a torn meniscus and was still Philadelphia’s best player. He averaged 28.1 points, 10.5 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game while shooting 51.3% from the field and 39% from deep.
One of the biggest reasons the Sixers lost was the play of Simmons, who struggled to score throughout the second-round series. He’ll likely be a trade candidate this offseason as Philadelphia looks to get Embiid some help for a future title run.
