The Philadelphia 76ers entered the season with plenty of talent and bravado to go along with sky-high expectations. Then the actual games started, and well, it’s been a struggle to say the least.
Sound familiar, Cleveland Browns fans?
The Sixers lost their fifth straight game Thursday night, following to 31-21 on the season. If the playoffs started today, Philly — which was a trendy pick to come out of the Eastern Conference to play in the NBA Finals — would be the No. 6 seed. Making matters worse is the fact there are grumblings about off-court issues, with Al Horford recently saying the locker room has “stuff going on,” and we’re pretty sure he’s not talking about good feelings.
With Philadelphia playing Thursday night on TNT, the Sixers were in the crosshairs of Shaquille O’Neal and Charles Barkley during the national broadcast.
Barkley ripped his former team as a whole, comparing them to a Browns team that began the year as a potential Super Bowl favorite only to fall completely on their faces en route to a 6-10 record that cost head coach Freddie Kitchens his job.
Chuck has some thoughts about the Sixers. ? pic.twitter.com/VeVu4cxvw7
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) February 7, 2020
Barkley elaborated after the game.
“My concern is through the roof because No. 1, they don’t know how to play basketball. What I mean by that is they’re like, you see the guys, talk about ‘We don’t have an offensive identity,'” he said. “And then you have Al Horford, who I like, saying ‘We’ve got a lot of stuff going on in the locker room,’ well shut the hell up and keep it in the locker room. … If it’s in the locker room, keep it there.”
Barkley’s pointed comments were far from the only criticism, too. Philly big man Joel Embiid, who had a woeful 6-for-26 performance including 3-of-10 on 3-pointers, was used as a punching bag by Shaq, who blatantly mocked Embiid for his showing vs. Giannis Antetokounmpo.
“I’m a little bit concerned, but it’s a simple fix,” a more measured Shaq said after the game. “Embiid needs to continue to play with force, and keep in mind, when me and (Barkley) say play with force, we’re not saying post up all the time. However, when you are in the post, and you have a smaller guy on you, you’ve gotta play with force.
“Listen, the reason Milwaukee is playing well — the guys can play — but when they see their leader come out and play hard, they’re going to play hard. If you’re lollygagging up on the court and you’re not rotating, the others aren’t going to play hard. So, Ben and Embiid, they just gotta play. I don’t care if they don’t like each other, they’ve gotta play when they get on the court.”
Check out the full postgame segment below.
