Emotional Joel Embiid insists 76ers will come back and win series vs. Knicks: ‘We’re the better team’

Tyler Lauletta

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Emotional Joel Embiid insists 76ers will come back and win series vs. Knicks: ‘We’re the better team’ image

Joel Embiid was clearly frustrated after the Philadelphia 76ers’ heartbreaking loss to the New York Knicks on Monday night at Madison Square Garden.

After the Sixers led the game 101–96 with less than a minute to play, the Knicks hit back-to-back three pointers during a chaotic sequence to take the lead, and ultimately ended the game on an 8–0 run through the final 30 seconds of action to win 104–101 and take a 2–0 lead in the first-round playoff series.

The game was not without controversy, as head coach Nick Nurse insisted to reporters after the game that he had called a timeout while his team maintained possession before the turnover that sealed his team’s fate.

In the locker room after the loss, 76ers superstar Joel Embiid said that his team would fight back and win the series, though he still looked in disbelief despite his words of confidence.

“We should be 2–0. So we good. We’re gonna win this series. We’re going to win this,” Embiid told reporters. “We know what we gotta fix. We did a better job today, so we’re going to fix it. We're the better team and we're gonna keep fighting."

Game 3 of the series between the Sixers and Knicks tips off Thursday night at the Wells Fargo Center, where Philadelphia will need a win to avoid falling into an all but insurmountable 3–0 hole.

Tyler Lauletta

Tyler Lauletta Photo

Tyler Lauletta has been working in sports media for nearly a decade, with stops at Business Insider and Sports Illustrated. Residing just outside Philadelphia, he is a recovering Truster of the Process and remains a sicko for the Eagles, Sixers and Phillies. He’s covered the Super Bowl and World Series from the press box and hopes to finagle his way into Wimbledon in the near future. You can follow him on X/Twitter @tylerlauletta.