On the heels of a heartbreaking loss on Monday night inside Madison Square Garden, Joel Embiid has surprisingly proclaimed that he and the Philadelphia 76ers are a better team than the New York Knicks and they will win their Round 1 series despite a 0-2 deficit.
The 76ers’ start to the 2024 NBA Playoffs has been extremely frustrating. In Game 1 they led early but a second-quarter injury to Joel Embiid seemed to suck some of the air from their sails and they never quite recovered to keep things close. Then they blew a four-point lead with less than a minute left to go to fall to a massive 0-2 hole in their series.
- Joel Embiid injury: Torn left meniscus
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While Philly has the reigning MVP, there are questions about his health and whether he will be able to perform at the level needed to come back and beat a Knicks team that earned the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference postseason. However, despite the gut punch the team suffered on Monday night, Embiid gave New York and their fans some bulletin board material after the game.
While speaking with the media immediately following their 104-101 loss yesterday, Embiid did something many players shy away from and made a stunning playoff guarantee.
Joel Embiid guarantees NBA Playoffs series win over New York Knicks
“We should be 2-0, you know,” Embiid said. “So we’re good. We’re going to win this series. We’re going to win this, we know what we’ve got to fix and we did a better job today. We’re going to fix it, but we’re the better team and we’re going to keep fighting.”
Without a doubt, this should fire up his teammates ahead of Game 3 back in Philadelphia on Thursday night. However, it will likely do the same for players on the Knicks who will be pushing a narrative of disrespect from many around the league who picked the 76ers to win the series. The reigning MVP has really boxed himself into a corner now for the rest of this series.
- Joel Embiid stats (2023-24): 39 G, 34.7 PPG, 11.0 RPG, 5.6 SPG, 1.2 SPG, 1.7 BPG, 39% 3PT
