How’s this for a blown name: Amir Johnson became busted, showing Philadelphia 76ers All-Star teammate Joel Embiid his cellphone on the bench past due in a Game 1 playoff loss. Johnson changed into caught with the aid of TV cameras sitting on the bench and scrolling via his smartphone overdue in the fourth area and the Sixers losing by way of double digits. Johnson showed Embiid whatever message became on the smartphone, after which he slid the device into his warmup pants pocket.
“I just looked down due to the fact he said his daughter was extremely sick and he became checking on her,” Embiid said. The Sixers made the clean call and fined Johnson an unspecified amount for behavior unfavorable to the group. “It’s not something that we are approximate,” Sixers train Brett Brown stated. Johnson, who averaged 3.9 points in 51 video games, was inactive and apologized for his mistake. “I take complete responsibility and could be given the outcomes of my moves,” he stated. “I also express regret to my teammates, the 76ers agency, and the fans for the distraction this has prompted.”
Embiid scored 22 points and had 15 rebounds, and turned into a late addition to starting lineup due to tendinitis in his left knee that fee him most of the very last month of the season. The Nets beat the Sixers 111-102 in Game 1 in a sport that became a catastrophe for the employer earlier than the hole tip. Sixers owner Josh Harris became very noncommittal on Brown’s go back for a seventh season at the bench if the team did now not make a deep run within the playoffs. Harris said Brown was a “first-rate train” however, they fell properly short of giving him a vote of self-assurance. “We think he’s the right chief to take us where we need to head inside the playoffs,” Harris stated. “I’m focused on the Brooklyn Nets.”
But wait, there had been greater failures. The Sixers trailed by way of 17, ignored 22 of 25 3-hints, and played extra like the castoffs of the early Process days beneath Brown than a team predicted to contend for an Eastern Conference championship. Ben Simmons simplest took 9 photographs and scored 9 points. JJ Redick and Tobias Harris endured the starters’ malaise with simplest a mixed 4 baskets and nine points. Simmons also blasted the 20,437 Sixers enthusiasts for booing the group for the maximum of the game.
“If you’re going to boo, then live on that facet,” he stated. Embiid stated the voracious booing that changed into largely absent for the duration of the dark days of the Sixers 10-win season turned into tough to listen. “I love the fanatics. I’ve in no way said something approximately them. They display us quite a little love,” Embiid said. But the truth is that it’s after each unmarried omit while photographs aren’t going to fall (each time). “I recognize why they’re booing. I’m pleased. I’ll play via something.” So to recap, the Sixers lost domestic-court gain, got caught using a mobile phone on the bench, admonished enthusiasts for booing, and refused to present the top teach a vote of confidence. And that’s a winner in Philly playoff Bingo.
