Embiid Takes Positives Following 76ers' Playoff Defeat
The Philadelphia 76ers fell short in their NBA playoff series against the Boston Celtics, but Joel Embiid says their future is bright.
Joel Embiid conceded the Philadelphia 76ers did not play their best basketball in the playoff series defeat to the Boston Celtics, but agreed with Ben Simmons' assertion that the duo will win "a lot of rings".
The 76ers' hopes of reaching the Eastern Conference Finals were dashed in Wednesday's thrilling 114-112 game-five defeat, despite Embiid and Dario Saric each contributing 27 points to the cause.
There were high hopes for the 76ers heading into the NBA playoffs after a campaign that yielded 52 victories in the regular season and a first playoff series win since 2012 – a round-one triumph against the Miami Heat.
It did not pan out quite as the 76ers had hoped, but Embiid insists the future is bright for a talented and youthful Philadelphia side.
Speaking about a moment where Simmons approached him with his empty hands, Embiid said: "He was like 'there's going to be a lot of rings on these'.
"We have a bright future. We're going to be fine.
"I feel like we had more [to show]. We got a lot of talented guys; we didn't play our best.
"We feel like when everybody is on, we're unbeatable. We committed a lot of mistakes [in the series]. We've got to learn from it."
Simmons echoed those sentiments, but the Australian believes he can take a lot of positives from the series defeat.
"The feeling right now is I didn't want to be done. I feel like I had a lot more to go," he said.
"I'm just learning, this is just the start for me, I have a long way to go. So, second series and I'm learning, there's a lot of things I learned this series that I didn't against Miami so that makes me a better player, so I'm grateful for those opportunities."
