Embiid, Sixers Miss ‘Golden Opportunity’ in Atlanta
During the final 24 minutes of Monday's Game 5, Joel Embiid simply didn't have it.
The Sixers big man has played brilliantly for most of these playoffs, including the first-half, where he scored 13 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. Embiid went back to the Sixers locker room early in the game, but returned and seemed to be fine, helping the Sixers build a 18-point lead.
However, Embiid didn't look the same during the second-half, going 0-12 from the floor, scoring just four points.
"Sometimes I thought a bunch of shots were in-and-out, a couple of calls that could go either way. I can always be better. As far as being 100-percent, I don't think that's gonna happen until the year is actually over."
Embiid had a chance to redeem himself late in the game down one with 16-seconds to play in the game, the Sixers went to the big man to try and regain the lead. The result was a strong move to the basket, but Embiid came up short and missed what would have been a go-ahead layup.
A Seth Curry double-clutch 3-point attempt would not go down and now we have a best-of-three series.
The theme of the night after the loss seemed to be that this loss was a missed opportunity to take advantage of this series.
"That was a tough loss," Embiid acknowledged. "Having a big lead, that was a blown opportunity. It happened, can't change it, got to move on to game 5."
"We missed so many opportunities," a frustrated Doc Rivers explained after the game. "My eyes tell me that we blew a golden opportunity tonight."
"Should have been a game that's ours," said Tobias Harris right now its in the past and we move on, we just get ready for the next one, that's all you can do."
If the Sixers want their series to be theirs, they will need to pick up the pieces in Philadelphia on Wednesday night and they will need a much different Embiid if they want to not only win the series, but make the deep playoff run everyone is expecting.
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