Basketball
‘It pisses me off’. Joel Embiid rips Sixers fans as visiting Knicks fans are louder in Philly
PHILADELPHIA − For two home games, Joel Embiid and the 76ers have heard the raucous Knicks fans invading the Wells Fargo Center, shouting “MVP! MVP! MVP!” every time Knicks guard Jalen Brunson made a shot, cheering and at times out-shouting Sixers fans.
And it didn’t sit well with the Sixers star center after the Sixers lost 97-92 on Sunday, falling into a 3-1 deficit in the best-of-7 Eastern Conference first-round playoff series.
“Disappointing,” Embiid said when asked about the Knicks fans in Philly for Games 3 and 4.
And then he really teed off.
ON THE BRINK: Instant analysis: Sixers, Joel Embiid season on brink as Knicks Jalen Brunson scores 47
“I love our fans,” he continued. “I think it’s unfortunate. I’m not calling them out, but it is disappointing. Obviously, you got a lot of Knicks fans. They’re down the road. But I’ve never seen it (like that), and I’ve been here for 10 years. It kind of pisses me off, especially because Philly is considered a sports town.
“I don’t think that should happen.”
Embiid scored 27 points on 7-for-19 shooting in Game 4, but he only scored 1 point in the fourth quarter on 0-for-5 shooting.
Brunson, meanwhile, had a game-high 47 points after scoring 39 points in Game 3, a 125-114 Sixers win. And the Knicks fans were standing and cheering and yelling every time he scored, along with the other Knicks.
Sixers guard Tyrese Maxey noticed that, too, but he was a bit more diplomatic than Embiid.
“I mean, we know that’s coming, honestly,” Maxey said about the loud Knicks fans. “But our crowd is great. We appreciate them every single time. I feel like it was the same crowd as last time, so I mean, our crowd did a great job. We appreciate them. It’s a very, very close (distance for) the two organizations. They’re right up the street from us. It is what it is. You just gotta go out there and beat that.”
But there was one light moment in the first half. That’s when Dallas Cowboys linebacker Micah Parsons, who’s from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and is a Philly sports fan, was shown at a courtside seat on the video screen.
The Cowboys are bitter rivals of both the Eagles and the New York Giants, so he was booed loudly. That’s when Sixers public address announcer Matt Cord said, “There’s something we can all agree on.”
“I don’t put much stock in that,” Sixers coach Nick Nurse said about the Knicks fans affecting his team. “I think we can win here, win there, or win anywhere. We just gotta play better.”
The series heads to New York for Game 5 on Tuesday. One more Knicks win during the next three games, and the Sixers’ season is over. If the Sixers win Game 5, they’ll have a home game for Game 6.
No doubt, Embiid will hope Sixers fans are louder if it comes to that.
Contact Martin Frank at mfrank@delawareonline.com. Follow on X @Mfranknfl.
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