PHILADELPHIA–The Philadelphia 76ers had a chance to close out the Toronto Raptors at home on Monday in Game 5 and move on to Round 2, but for the second straight game, the Sixers were unable to do as they fell to the Raptors at home 103-88.
The Sixers as a whole were not very good on the offensive end. They shot only 38.3% from the floor and they committed 16 turnovers which led to 20 Raptors points. It was a tough night for them overall.
With Joel Embiid ailing with a thumb issue, the Sixers needed more out of James Harden in order to get the job done. Harden was not able to deliver as he took only 11 shots and scored 15 points in what was expected to be a big performance for him in a really important situation for them going forward.
When asked if it was something the Raptors did to bother him, he said: “I took 11 shots. No.”
Embiid was asked about Harden and his lack of shots and the big fella just wanted to offer some encouragement for him and push him forward.
“I’ve been saying all season since he got here, he just needs to be aggressive and he needs to be himself,” said Embiid. “That’s not really my job. That’s probably on coach to talk to him and tell him to take more shots especially if they’re gonna guard me the way they’ve been guarding, but that’s really not my job.”
With the way Toronto doubles Embiid, the Sixers need to get aggressive around him and continue to attack the basket and find the open spots. It wasn’t just Harden, it was the entire team.
“We all need to be better,” Embiid added. “Offensively, we missed a bunch of wide-open shots and at times, I just felt like we just invited when I was getting doubled, we were not aggressive attacking the ball. We just moved around the ball on the perimeter and that gave them time to recover and that’s why we were not able to get anything out of it. If that’s what they’re gonna keep doing, we gotta take advantage of it.”
This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire! Follow us on Facebook!
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2021-22 Philadelphia 76ers roster after the big James Harden trade
