Melbourne Demons AFL star Christian Petracca has taken aim at Philadelphia center, Joel Embiid, after the 76ers' were bundled out of the NBA playoffs on Monday.
Embiid seemed to put the blame for the loss on Australian point guard, Ben Simmons, who has been under pressure for not shooting all season. Embiid said a Simmons mental error was the turning point in the game.
"I mean, I'll be honest. I thought the turning point was when we — I don't know how to say it — but I thought the turning point was just... we had an open shot and we made one free throw and we missed the other and then they came down and scored," Embiid said referencing a last quarter Simmons play, where he gave up an open dunk to pass to second-year wing, Matisse Thybulle, himself a poor shooter.
"I don't know how to say it - but I thought the turning point was we had an open shot, we missed and we made one free throw."
—Joel Embiid on the Sixers' Game 7 loss vs. the Hawks pic.twitter.com/wDsw1gVZP0
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) June 21, 2021
Petracca is childhood friends with Simmons, and leapt to the defence of his long-time pal, saying Embiid may need to focus on himself rather than blame his Australian teammate.
"8 turnovers twice in this series and wasn't clutch?" Petracca questioned Embiid, even tagging the MVP candidate in his instagram story.
"Maybe look at your own game before you blame someone else.
"Bit rich and weak."
Christian Petracca calls out Joel Embiid for his post-game comments on Ben Simmons pic.twitter.com/Vw362jO95A
— 7AFL (@7AFL) June 21, 2021
We now eagerly await Embiid's response...
This article was originally published at ZeroHanger.com.
