The reigning NBA MVP got a dose of reality from an All-Star teammate after the Philadelphia 76ers fell to 2-11 with Monday’s loss in Miami.
As reported by ESPN, Sixers center Joel Embiid was called out in a team meeting by point guard Tyrese Maxey for being late ‘for everything’ amid the dismal start to Philadelphia’s season. Maxey’s point, sources told the Worldwide Leader, was that Embiid’s tardiness impacts everyone in the Sixers’ locker room from coaches and players down to the staff.
Maxey and Embiid remain close friends, but frequently hold each other accountable, sources told ESPN.
‘Tyrese loves Big Fella, but this is the elephant in the room,’ one of the meeting’s attendees told ESPN.
Although Embiid is coming off an MVP season, the oft-injured center has taken criticism for saying he no longer expects to play consecutive nights again for the remainder of his career. He also had a physical confrontation with a reporter this season, resulting in his suspension.
Joel Embiid (right) was reportedly called out by Tyrese Maxey (left) in the locker room
Embiid has also faced previous criticism over his work ethic and demeanor during his nine years in Philadelphia.
Monday’s meeting was called by veteran point guard Kyle Lowry after the team dropped its fourth straight in Miami.
The game ended at 9:51pm but it took more than an hour for coach Nick Nurse to emerge for his postgame media session. The reason, of course, was the aforementioned team meeting.
‘Sorry for the delay,’ Nurse said to the half-dozen or so reporters who waited out his arrival. He took questions like normal, then the locker room opened and a few players talked as well.
There’s a lot of the season left. The first quarter of the 82-game marathon isn’t even over. It’s not time to start panicking.
But some teams, quite frankly, know it’s time for things to get better – Philly atop that list.
Philadelphia hasn’t scored 100 points in three of its last four games, hasn’t even reached 90 points in either of its last two games. And here’s a weird stat: the 76ers are 2-0 in overtime games this season, 0-11 in games that end after 48 minutes.
‘Listen, it’s obviously difficult, right? Don’t like the losing, that’s for sure,’ Nurse said. ‘I mean, it doesn’t matter. The games are coming and we’ve got to figure some things out. We’ve got to play better. Got to get our guys on the floor. There’s a lot of things going on. But we’ve got to go out and play and somehow sustain. A lot of these games, there’s lots of very good moments for long, long stretches.’
The Sixers were expected to be strong this year with Maxey’s development and the addition of Paul George (right), but the team has gotten off to a 2-11 start amid some injury woes
Cleveland and Boston have obviously separated themselves atop the Eastern Conference; the 15-0 Cavaliers visit the 11-3 Celtics in an NBA Cup game on Tuesday night. From there, the rest of the East – from Orlando at 9-6 to Philly in a group at 2-11 – are separated by just six games, with about a million games left to play. Nobody is out of it, certainly not a 76ers team that has Embiid, Maxey, Paul George and an NBA champion point guard in Lowry.
‘I mean, 2-11 is pretty bad, of course,’ Philly’s Jared McCain said. ‘But it’s still the beginning of the season. Least minutes played as a team together, so I say it all the time: Give us grace. We’ve got to get better.’
To be fair, there was nothing that seemed to be shattered in the 76ers’ locker room when the team meeting finally ended. No broken whiteboards, no signs of trouble, and many players were cracking jokes.
‘We had a meeting? I didn’t know,’ Embiid said, which was his way of letting reporters know that he wasn’t going to spill the tea on anything that got said behind closed doors.
He did concede, however, that he might need to be more aggressive going forward. The 76ers are figuring out how to make all the pieces fit, but Embiid knows they can’t keep going down this path.
‘We’ve got that record,’ Embiid said, ‘and something needs to be done about it.’
This article was originally published by a www.dailymail.co.uk . Read the Original article here. .