Even with Full Context, the Joel Embiid Quote Still Sucks

This truncated quote was widely circulated on Twitter after the game seven loss:

“Me and James, we can’t win alone. That’s why basketball is played five-on-five. We need everybody to find ways to be better.” 😳

– Joel Embiid

(Via @SIChrisMannix ) pic.twitter.com/U0BDThQ0rU

— NBACentral (@TheNBACentral) May 14, 2023

Looks like a bad quote from the scoring champ and MVP, who went 5-18 in an embarrassing blowout, but you really need the whole thing before making any kind of judgment.

Kyle shared some video on our feed with a longer portion of Embiid’s answer, and Rich Hofmann transcribed the entirety of it here:

Full Joel Embiid quote when he was asked about James Harden below. pic.twitter.com/BBnXrP1fIZ

— Rich Hofmann (@rich_hofmann) May 14, 2023

Yeah, I dunno. I think this quote still sucks. Embiid says he needs to be better, but he’s still dissing his non-Harden teammates at the same time. Jalen Hurts and Bryce Harper wouldn’t sit up there and say some version of “yeah I need to be better, but I can’t win alone.”

What the Sixers needed more than contribution from players three through 10 was for the two MVP winners in the starting rotation to actually rise to the occasion. Joel Embiid scored 15 points and shot 27.7% from the field. James Harden had more turnovers than made field goals. They both bottled it out there, playing with the urgency of a January road game in Orlando. This was game seven in Boston and the two superstars were total disappointments, so I don’t need to hear Embiid come out and talk about how everyone needs to get better. We needed you to show up and we needed Harden to show up.

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