Joel Embiid says Philadelphia 76ers believe they can win NBA title
Third-seed Sixers will face second-seed Toronto Raptors in Eastern Conference semi-finals
Wednesday 24 April 2019 16:13, UK
Joel Embiid says he and his Philadelphia 76ers' team-mates believe they can go all the way in the playoffs and win the NBA championship.
Embiid starred with 23 points and 13 rebounds in just 20 minutes on court as the Sixers comfortably dispatched the Nets 122-100 in Game 5 to seal a 4-1 series win and set up a meeting with the Toronto Raptors in the Eastern Conference semi-finals.
Buoyed by the victory, a confident Embiid revealed he and his team-mates are thinking beyond a deep playoff run and are focused on bringing home an NBA title.
"We think we can win it all," said Embiid. "Obviously, it's going to take a lot. You've got some great teams in the league. We're about to play one of them (Toronto Raptors) and, I don't know, the next one is not going to be easy, it's going to be Milwaukee (Bucks) or Boston (Celtics), then you got the West which is really tough.
"So, we just got to take one game at a time but we understand that we have all the talent we need, especially, to win it all."
The Sixers center reflected on Philadelphia's five-game elimination at the hands of the Boston Celtics 12 months ago and blamed "overconfidence" for that exit.
"This is my second time being here [in the postseason]," he said. "And last year, we were kind of, I would say, overconfident on what we could have done, but this year is just about respecting everything about the game of basketball and just putting the work in."
Philadelphia head coach Brett Brown was more cautious in his goals for the team and focused on the short time his starters have had to adjust to one another following the trade deadline acquisition of forward Tobias Harris from the Los Angeles Clippers and late-season injury to Embiid.
"This is how I see it: we have a team that is slowly coming together," Brown said. "They don't have the luxury of lots of games and lots of context to share upon. You have Joel [Embiid], you don't. You have Jimmy Butler, you don't. These guys have been great on trying to form a team and so when you say lofty goals versus reaching the second round, we have more to do.
"And so, this is good. Beating Brooklyn; advancing to the second round. This is good. And it can't be discredited as 'oh, you should'.
"On paper, we should, but you still playing against a team that was a team. They had a hell of a year. I give Kenny Atkinson and Sean Marks credit. And so, I would answer it like that and conclude with we still have more to do. A lot more to do."
