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MVP's painful drop - he should better his skills but also not belittle his teammates
Reading Time: 4min | Tue. 16.05.23. | 09:49
When you fly too close to the sun, you get burned - the Cameroonian felt that himself
MVP went MIA (missing in action). Instead of a big, winning night for the NBA's official most valuable player, Philadelphia got the blandest version of Joel Embiid, a man who 'stayed in the locker room' in the second half because he 'didn't exist' on the floor. In the end, only 15 points, while in the second half he almost did not threaten Boston's basket...
Embiid could not have imagined that so soon after winning the MVP award, the entire public would turn against him and question everything he accomplished this season. However, it can be said that he is personally responsible for everything.
Getting eliminated in the Eastern Conference semifinals by Boston isn't the worst thing that happened to the Philadelphia ace. Last night, Embiid became the only MVP who never played in the conference finals, and new devastating stats are showing up. One of which being that Joel became the first MVP in the history of the competition to experience such a drop in points average.
He averaged 33.1 points per game in the regular part of the of the season and 23.7 in the playoffs, which is a drop of 9.4 points.
Embiid also found himself on the receiving end of criticism after his statements after the elimination from Boston, where, in the opinion of many, he seriously offended his teammates with the statement that he and James Harden could not do everything by themselves, as well as that basketball is played five-on-five and that everyone has to find a way to be better.
“Me and James, we can't win alone. That's why basketball is played 5-on-5. We need everybody to find ways to be better.”
— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) May 14, 2023
- Joel Embiid after being eliminated 😬 pic.twitter.com/rxvWta1Eq1
It was Embiid who failed the most in the decisive seventh game, which was by far his worst in the playoffs. He scored 15 points and had one assist and four turnovers, shooting 5/18 from the field.
Embid has already lost decisive matches. Several times.
"It's hard, it's not easy to lose like this. Tonight is especially hard, I'll take a few days off to process everything. I've already started thinking about where I need to be better, how to improve for the next year. I have a clearer picture of what I need to do how I would become a better basketball player. Every year I improved my quality, I will try to do it again. Someone said that failure is just a stepping stone to success, I hope so. I can't just be sad, I have to move forward, no matter what. If you see me as the best player in the team, after such defeats, the blame always goes to the best player. And I accept that. It's not easy to win alone, but I accept all criticism." said the Cameroonian after the defeat.
Once again, the 76ers were left without a chance to fight for the NBA ring, again Embiid remained on the bench, watching the opponent rejoice...
"I try not to overreact. It doesn't matter where you lose, you don't get a trophy for second, third or fourth place. It doesn't matter when you lose, only the team that wins is important. Personally, I wouldn't be satisfied if I reached the final and lost, I wouldn't like to be second. For me, only first place counts, everything else is a failure. I watched the last few minutes of this game and thought where we went wrong. It doesn't matter now, I wouldn't be proud if we went to the final and lost.
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I want to win, I care about winning, I hate when I lose, but some things still remind me that I managed to make a difference in some other way. That as a man from Africa I managed to influence people, to convince them that I can to achieve a lot in life, to help their families. It's something bigger than basketball. There are much bigger and more important things in life. I have my family, now I'm going to spend some time with them."
