Embiid, Harden Frustrated With Shooting, Officiating in Game 6

Joel Embiid and James Harden voiced their frustration with the way Game 6 played out on Thursday.

The Philadelphia 76ers couldn’t leave their Game 6 matchup against the Boston Celtics with a victory and a ticket to the Eastern Conference Finals.

As the Sixers struggled to gain an early offensive rhythm in the first half and failed to maintain one when they finally picked up the slack in the third quarter, Philadelphia found themselves coming up short of the Celtics with a 96-86 loss.

Sixers head coach Doc Rivers mentioned the Sixers had a lack of trust on the offensive end of the floor, which has been a common theme in his eyes at times throughout the series. 

Sixers stars James Harden and Joel Embiid offered their versions to describe the team’s struggles on Thursday night, which included some voiced frustration with the officiating.

“Tonight, it was just frustrating because I’m number one, as far as fouls that don’t get called. Like, it’s a fact,” said Harden. “It’s frustrating as a player when officiating tells you at halftime that we missed a couple of fouls.”

Throughout the 2022-2023 NBA season, Harden averaged 6.2 free throws per game. During this year’s playoff run, that number is down to 5.3 per game. The last time Harden averaged fewer than six free throws per game in the postseason was in 2011 when he was a reserve on the Oklahoma City Thunder.

While Harden has found success without consistent trips to the line in the Eastern Conference Semifinals series against the Boston Celtics this season, Thursday night was a struggle for the guard, as he shot 30 percent from the field in the first half with zero trips to the charity stripe.

Harden’s shooting struggles didn’t improve in the second half as he knocked down just one of his six shot attempts, but a few trips to the free throw line allowed him to score five of his seven second-half points. Unfortunately for the Sixers, a mixture of low-percentage shooting and a lack of calls in their favor led to disappointment.

“That right there, the missed shots and fouls, which is giving a rhythm to transition points for them,” Harden continued. “A couple of them was shot clock. Like, I’m not gonna look at my shooting percentage. I did a lot of really good things offensively. Defensively, did a really good job. Like, their game plan was to pack the paint, and they started two bigs. They packed the paint, so they forced us to make shots. It’s not a hard game. I’m not going to go out there and force it. Obviously, I want to score the basketball, but I’m a playmaker as well. I won’t look too much at scoring.”

“I thought we did a pretty good scrambling tonight, but they made a lot of tough shots,” Joel Embiid chimed in. “The way they started the game, we didn’t start the game the way we wanted to, we didn’t send a message. They were too comfortable. Brogdon coming off the bench, he had 11 quick points in that first quarter.”

Thursday’s game featured several swings of momentum for each team. Boston clearly got off to a stronger start on both ends of the floor, which is something Embiid acknowledged. And like Harden, Embiid believed that questionable calls from the officials early on played a part in damaging their rhythm.

“Between the momentum changing, between that stupid a** goaltend — those type of calls — that just can’t happen,” Embiid finished. “This is the playoffs. If you’re going to make those types of calls, you got to be sure about it. That’s just not okay.”

The Sixers improved slightly in the second half and managed to climb back from a double-digit deficit to take a lead of their own eventually. However, they couldn’t capitalize. 

In the end, the Celtics outscored the Sixers 45-43 in the final two quarters. As a result, the Sixers couldn’t close out the second-round series and will now head back to Boston to take on the Celtics at TD Garden for the fourth and final time this season.