Shaq rips Joel Embiid play again, "He's soft"
The Philadelphia 76ers are on a four-game losing streak after falling to the Milwaukee Bucks Thursday night. And to make matters worse, Joel Embiid is taking criticism again from The Diesel, Shaq.
During halftime of the broadcast, Hall of Famer and Inside the NBA cast member Shaquille O'Neal called out Embiid for his bad play against the Bucks calling him “soft” in this clip here:
Embiid for the game went a pedestrian 6-for-26 shooting, finishing with 19 points and 11 rebounds. During the game he shot 10 three-pointers, making only three and was a -3 in plus/minus when he was on the court.
These comments from Shaq comes after teammate Ben Simmons and Mike Scott called the team soft after a blowout loss to the Miami Heat:
The Sixers are going though a mini-crisis right now where it seems nothing can go right for them. They are 9-19 on the road and currently sit at the sixth spot in the East, meaning they won’t have home court-advantage if the playoffs were to start today. Also, veteran Al Horford came out and spoke about locker room issues the team was having. “There’s some stuff going on in our locker room and we’ll keep that internal", said Horford. So much for that.
This team had high expectations entering the season and many had them making it to the Finals. However, their play has been very inconsistent and now it seems they rather complain than come together as a team. Charles Barkley ripped the team as well before the game, comparing them to the Cleveland Browns, another team that hasn't lived up to the talent they have.
The Sixers are still seven games in front of the seventh-seeded Brooklyn Nets so it is not time to panic yet. This team, however, has a real spacing problem they need to figure out immediately with their two franchise players. When asked about if the team had an offensive identity, Embiid highlighted his team’s issues saying, “no we don’t. Spacing is a issue.”
“I got to spend a lot of time at the three-point line just to make sure there’s some spacing. Everybody keeps saying, ‘Get in the post!’ but if you actually understand basketball, you’ve got to find that balance,” he added.”
While Embiid missed time with his hand injury, Simmons was having a good string of games without the big man in the post. Now since his return, it seems as if the two has been jabbing at each other through the media, primarily because of Simmons reluctance to shoot the ball.
After Shaq and Charles ripped Embiid last December, he responded with a monster game. Sixers will host the Memphis Grizzlies at home today as all eyes will be on this team and its drama.
