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Tim BontempsESPN
After Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid made his way to the free throw line in the 117-109 victory over the Boston Celtics on Wednesday night, Celtics guard Marcus Marcus expressed his displeasure at the form how the game was arbitrated.
Embiid hit and shot more free throws than the Celtics as a team, hitting 17 of 21 from the line compared with 13 of 20 from Boston. The Sixers finished 36 out of 45 as a team.
“You can’t get over it,” said Smart. “It is difficult to win that way.”
It is hard to win, period, when Embiid – who finished with 42 points, 10 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals – plays as he did against Boston, while continuing to defend his position to be firmly in contention for the MVP Award championship until the first month of the season.
Regardless of which defender was thrown at him – be it Tristan Thompson, who started, or Daniel Theis, who closed – Embiid had his way, scoring double digits in each of the first three quarters and then scoring six points in the final seven minutes, in addition to do a key theft, to help keep the Celtics away.
Part of that stretch, however, included Embiid making three trips to the foul line – trips that Smart thought he had made, in part, to beautify contact.
“It’s difficult,” said Smart. “It’s difficult. Especially when we have our hands up many times, and he struggles and receives the call, and then, on the other side, we have our guys attacking the ring, getting a lot of contact, and we are not getting the whistle. It’s difficult to play like that, it’s difficult.
“If the roles were reversed, I would do it every time. I mean, I would also be if each time I threw my arms up or each time I was touched, I went to the free throw line. I mean, yeah kind of hard not to get into a rhythm like that when you shoot 21 free throws alone and they allow you to hack on the other side.
“It’s difficult, but we fought. The team did a good job. We were there to give us a win and try to get it back on Friday.”
Embiid was informed during his post-game interview of Smart’s comments. Naturally, the big guy thought about how Smart saw the game unfold, pointing out that Smart is well known for selling calls to officials.
“Marcus Smart just told me that I struggle a lot?” Embiid said. “Come on. I’m sure he knows himself, and he knows his game too, he does a lot of it. And I don’t think I know him. I mean, if you watch basketball and if you’re a student of the game and if you pay attention during the game, we’ll all see. At every foul, I get a foul. They probably don’t call them all, like the last one. It was three minutes to go, I went up, and that was a foul and they knew it, but they didn’t call. there are many that they don’t care about, and there are many that they care about because you have to call.
“The game is physical. Other teams tend to try to be extraphysical against me. And I think I’m just smarter than everyone else. I just enjoy it. I just enjoy how they are protecting me. You can call it that, I don’t know , basketball IQ, like, if you’re going to put your hand up there, I’m going to take advantage and go to the free throw line, because I know that. I’m a great free-throw pitcher and this is the best chance to help the team win in those situations.
What was clear on Wednesday was that, even if one or two fouls could be discussed, Embiid was the dominant figure in the game. With Jayson Tatum out, the Celtics had four players with at least 19 points: Jaylen Brown (26), Smart (25), Theis (23) and Kemba Walker (19 in just 22 minutes).
But despite this offensive departure, the Celtics were unable to do anything with Embiid all night. He used his size advantage to take a clean look at the basket after another.
Celtics coach Brad Stevens, when asked about Embiid’s repeated attempts at the charity, simply said his team had to do a better job of keeping him from going there.
‘We have to do our best to play without getting dirty, “said Stevens.” I will go back and look at each one, find out what we can do better. He will score some, but 42 is too much. It will be difficult to win a game when the best player on the other team scores 42 points.
“You have to go back to how we can be better. He not only scored those points, he also handled the double very well on some occasions that led to three points. He had a big impact on the game tonight, and he was great. “
Wednesday’s game was the second time in eight days that Embiid has scored 40 points at home against an Eastern Conference powerhouse. He scored 45 points, including 35 in the second half and in overtime on January 12 against the Miami Heat.
The win improved Philadelphia to 10-2 when Embiid plays this season. Coach Doc Rivers and Embiid’s teammates sang his praise later.
“It is not at all, it is certainly MVP caliber [play]”said Tobias Harris, who had 22 points.” Night after night, he controls the game, controls the painting.
“[He’s] we will definitely have a year of MVP, and one of the biggest things is that we continue to support him game after game, and we have progressed, until he continues to progress, throughout this year. But I’m happy for him because that’s what he put in, and when you win, or are successful as a team, you get that kind of notoriety, for sure. “