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We have grit and fight in us. Call the workers Compensation law firm of Stern and Cohen or visit their site Sterncohenlaw dot com. The consultation is free. Stern and Cohen are the official partners of the seventy six Ers. They'll go ring the insurance company's bell. All right, Welcome back to the seventy six Ers Insiders podcast. Matver B and Lauren Rosen are so excited we are to talk about Joel Embiid winning a gold medal with Team USA.
Our reaction pod will include some high level takeaways from the tournament. It will also dive a little bit deeper into his best performance in the semi finals to help will Team USA to the gold medal game when they beat Serbia and got to the matchup with France. So we'll go into that talk about some of the teammates that he had as they supported each other all the
way through the Paris finale. So we've got a lot to catch up on, Lauren, But it was just awesome to see Joel Embiid with Team USA up there on the podium after winning the gold against France. What were some of your high level takeaways?
Hi, Matt, So good to be with you.
I think for me, watching Joel go through this entire experience was really special because it didn't come without resistance. Right when you're Joel Embiid, you know that your off seasons are extremely valuable.
So to make the decision to play and to put your.
Body through high level basketball for a long.
Period of time.
Remember this team was together for about five weeks playing competitively around the world.
So to choose to do that, to choose to play for the United States and double.
Down on that a few times again meeting resistance and pushing through it, and then to meet resistance in the games themselves and push through that, right, figuring out how to play at a different rhythm with different rules, figuring out how to play in a win or go home situation.
And we're going to talk about this more in a little bit.
But Joel's played in game sevens, right, but he's never played besides I guess, let's say the play in tournament this past season in a winner take all, win or go home type situation, with the stakes as high as they were. Right, with the play in tournament, it was an opportunity to get in to another tournament.
It wasn't and it wasn't a.
Win or go home actually because they would have played another game, So toss that out the window.
But the opportunity to.
Well game sevens game seven's too in the playoffs, correct.
But to win in advance is He's never been in a game seven in a finals, right, He's never been in a win and win goal, win and win the
title type of game before. And to also the last point I'll make about meeting resistance right, finding a way to be relied upon by this team specifically because when you look across the team, everyone with a couple exceptions of guys who are teammates in the NBA, but everyone's the best player on their team, right, So now you're together and all of a sudden, you're not the best player on the team, or you're not the highest usage player on your team. So how do you meet that resistance?
Push through it, find a way to make these other guys look better, find a way to exploit opportunity when you get it. For me, just sort of on a personal, professional basketball human level, this just had to be the most meaningful experience and had to be something that is going to make Joel Embid a better basketball player for the seventy six ers.
Moving forward, we're going to talk about specific moments, are major moments if you will, from the tournament specifically related to Joel Embiid in just a moment. But to the point about levels, how about the level of competition, like worldwide basketball has been growing, so these other teams are getting better, And a huge difference from Joel's NBA career and playoff moments is that this Team USA venture is sort of a thankless one in many respects because it's
their fifth straight gold medal. Now for the men's team, by the way, shout out to the US women's basketball team for winning their eighth straight gold medal. Absolutely also against France, two incredible finals in France.
So it's just it was cinema.
But the thankless part of it is you're expected to win the gold metal every time when you put on
the team USA uniform. So for Steve Kerr and the coaching staff, and for Joel Embiid and these Hall of Fame players that he is surrounded by, they were expected to do this while the other countries are getting a lot better and the US, I mean they were just they shot forty six percent from three as a team in the games, and they averaged one hundred and five points, which was eleven points more than the second best scoring team in Serbia, which is a game that we're going to talk about.
But Joel averaged eleven.
Point two points per game against this pretty high, high level of competition with so many great teammates. Steph Curry ends up with fourteen point eight points. Lebron was amazing fourteen almost seven rebounds a game and eight and a half assists per game. So playing with these types of players how well do you think Joelle held his own and how do you feel about him ending with eleven point two points per game on this roster?
Sounds pretty good, especially considering the criticism he was getting early on in his tenure with Team USA, and again as a reminder, he Steph Curry among others, it's their first time playing in this sort of environment, and hopefully for both of those guys that I mentioned, Joelle and Steph, it's not their last, but learning to acclimate to a completely different set of rules and a completely different.
Style of play.
I'm always fascinated by the fact that I've never held an international basketball, but I need to because the way that guys talk about.
How the grip is so different and how it's.
Allegedly much slipper or is the international ball. So when you're someone like Joel Embiid who's extremely sweaty all the time, right, that type of thing, and I'm not even being facetious, like that really changes the way that you have to play, the way that you have to move your hands, move your arms, the pressure that you're putting on the ball.
And that's just one example, right.
That's before you even look at the differences in rules, the differences in what's a foul and what's not, the
differences in officiating. So he had a learning did joellenbiid to get to the point where he could make the impact that he made in those elimination games that resulted in the gold medal, And so watching him make those adjustments in real time, watching him get comfortable, watching him round into form, and again in just his first experience with USA basketball, next time he puts on that uniform, the learning curve is going to be shorter, It's not
going to be nearly as steep. So I'm looking forward to seeing what he continues to do in these situations.
About the basketball really quickly, please, We've known for years now that the NBA basketball, the sweatier it gets, the more grip you get. Whereas the announcers were saying in international play, the sweatier the basketball gets, the harder it is to shoot with and pass with, Dwayne Wade was saying that sometimes the ball on a jump shot can even slide right out of your hands.
So that would be a key difference.
And the rule surrounding what constitutes need for a new ball is different in the NBA versus overseas, right, And you know, but you hear stories all over the place about Lebron James's preferences with balls and starting the starting the game with the same ball that you finish it with versus swapping it out. And if it gets wet or if a drink spills on it, how is that different from if it's sweaty, and when do you bring
out the towel to wipe it down. It's just these little intricacies that you think about a little bit during the course of an eighty two game season, but are so much more meaningful in a March Madness style winner take all tournament with people playing for Not every NBA
player plays for the city they're from. In fact, very few do, right, So for these guys to be playing for their country, caring so much, and also playing under a different set of rules, that to me was sort of the subplot that I loved watching, figuring out how the guys would adjust, figuring out how the game then ended up looking different stylistically based on what gives you an advantage in the NBA and what gives you an advantage overseas. That was the subplot that I enjoyed the most.
Shout out to Kyle Lowry for that playing for your hometown team, also a pass gold medal winner, and then he parlayed that a couple of years later into an NBA championship. So Sixers fans are out there are hoping that Joel Embi can do the same type of thing, a gold followed by an NBA title. And before we select our major moments, I am putting you on the spot related to the rules. Is there something from the international game that you'd like to see the NBA adopt.
Would you want some of the no goaltend type play because watching lehmbin Yama, n MB and others be able to just knock the ball off the rim, to me, would seemingly improve the NBA product.
Yeah, I love that, and I love the way that they adjusted to it right.
And then just the just.
The difference in what I'll leave it here, difference in what constitutes a common foul in the NBA game versus what constitutes a common foul in the FOBA game. I prefer the opportunity to continue playing in the FOBA game.
That's what I observed in this situation.
And I know that during different tournaments, files have been called differently. I'm not an expert on FIBA, but in this tournament, it felt like they were really playing through a lot and for me, I enjoy watching.
That for a variety of reasons.
It was just a really enjoyable product, and a really enjoyable moment happened in the semi final.
So with that, what was your major moment?
So I sort of alluded to it in my little opening ramble. But the situation that Team USA found itself in in the semi final game versus Serbia, down throughout throughout the third quarter, down double figures often in that game, Serbia was out playing the US in those first three quarters, notably the first quarter. Obviously they got off to a big, hot start, but then went on to lead by double
figures in the third. I think watching Joel understand where he was going to be most effective and how to compliment the other guys as opposed to lead the group. Right over these last five six seven years on the seventy six ers, he is the focal point. Everything runs through Joel Embiid on offense and on defense, as.
It should, but in this situation.
It was really hard to argue against running things through Lebron James, through Kevin Durant, through Steph Curry.
I cracked up.
At Anthony Edward saying that Steph Curry showed up exactly the right time. But by the time they were in that Serbia game, you couldn't argue with the thirty six point performance.
That Steph was on his way to right.
You knew that the end of that game was going to run through Steph Curry. You knew it had to run through Lebron James as he put together a triple double throughout that game. Joel watching and saying, Okay, I'm Joel Embiid. I have this incredible skill set and it's going to be incredibly useful down the stretch here. I'm going to insert myself strategically. I know how to play against Nikola Jokic. I know what I am going to do and how I can also set up Lebron James
and Steph Curry. So watching Joel in a win or go home situation, we said it, there haven't been that many in his career.
We're talking Game.
Seven's elimination games in the playoffs, but the opportunity to advance to a championship is not something that he's experienced before. Right, So not only is it win or go home, it's win and advance to a championship. Now, how do I, Joel Embiid, decide where my spots are? How do I be as efficient as possible so I can end my night eight for eleven from the field and two for
three from three? How do I make sure that I am giving as much space to Lebron James and Steph Curry as he is absolutely cooking as I possibly can. It's just so much newness and to watch him the newness, show the humility it took to be a supporting cast member but really exploit the holes.
That Serbia was giving him.
It was just cool to watch him adjust, develop and grow in that ten or fifteen minute period in the second half against Servia that proved so consequential for this team. And then I know we're going to talk about the qualitative off court stuff and the way that those guys that we've now mentioned embraced.
Joelle as a result of his play.
But watching him in a pressure situation unlike any situation he's ever been in, watching him read the game, figure out where he was going to be most helpful and then execute nearly perfectly.
It was just really really cool to watch.
As someone that's super familiar with his game and his mindset, it was really cool to watch him.
See what was needed execute. It was just, yeah, it was spectacular.
Serbia was the double digit seed college team, if you will, that sort of gets the arena going when there's a
potential upset on the line. Embiid with the French fans, that's been well documented, so that was all happening and Joel rose to the occasion against the team that yes features Nikola Jokic, a multi time MVP and one of his rivals at the NBA level, but the rest of the team was raining threes for much of the early game and had so much momentum and kind of that nothing to lose type attitude, where Embiid and the US had the opposite of that. He finishes with nineteen points
in just twenty seven minutes. You gave the shooting totals good to see him hit a couple of threes, and his one free throw that he took and made was huge because it was during that run. In the fourth quarter, the US after a Jokic basket, was actually down eleven.
Yes, they were down more than that earlier in the game.
Almost twenty points, but with eight minutes and change, actually it dipped below that. They were down eleven and Joel the team tied it up at eighty four. But Joel was part of a seven to two solo run against Serbia. He had seven straight points, including an a one that gave him the free throw and seeing Lebron James tie it up with one of his patented layups. What were you thinking during the Team USA run that Joel scored half or so of their points, seven points in the span of a couple minutes.
Just pride because watching Joel throughout the course of his career, accumulating new skills, new experiences, learning to rise to the occasion, and then being put in this again, high high pressure situation surrounded by other guys that are not necessarily better basketball players than Joel Embiid, but were primary and secondary options ahead of Joel Embiid.
Right, that's not a situation he's comfortable with.
So watching him be able to adjust on the fly and figure out how he could be an effective compliment meant to those other guys based on what the game was giving them. I was just proud of the adjustments he was making live. It made me really really.
Proud to see even like little things.
And I'll get to my moment pick here, but the way you set a screen to open up Steph Curry,
who's scorching hot. And Curry's almost fifteen points per game led all Team USA scores just for context of Joel's eleven points per game, and that Steph number was aided by the fact that he scored thirty six in this Serbia game and twenty four in the gold medal game against France, making seventeen threes combined, and Joel helped free him up for some of those big shots in what ultimately was a ninety five ninety one Team USA victory.
My major moment relates to Curry. It relates to these teammates like Lebron that we're talking about, just the support
that they gave Joel Embiid. That was the favorite thing that I saw, if you will, throughout, including on the podium, like I said, when they all stand up there together, but then when Joel was kind of egging the fans on and his teammates, none of them two important for that moment to show their support for Joel Embiid, but on the court when Steph Curry hits the shot of the games against France to go up by nine with thirty seconds left, and they're all doing the good night celebration,
Joel and the rest of their squad. For me, it was that and just getting over that winning hump and being surrounded by people like Steph Curry who have won multiple championships. That was the major thing for me, is just seeing Joel in that element, in his element with those guys. He was just part of it, like a starter for a gold medal team and one of the people, in combination with Curry that helped get them to the final spectacular.
I loved watching it as well. That was something that obviously stood out to me. We talked about sort of the quantitative on court stuff, but qualitatively speaking, the relationships that he built, the respect that he earned among his peers, the appreciation that he garnered from his peers, some of whom are universally considered to be among the greatest of all time.
It looked like he was having fun.
It looked like he was being embraced, And to me, that's all you want when you're a fan of someone who's new to a team, right, you want them to be embraced as a teammate, you want them to be appreciated.
And obviously, Joelle.
Has had the unique experience of being with one team for the entirety of his professional career, so to be able to step outside of his current team get to know players on this level, I can only imagine we talk a lot about people don't maybe give Joelle enough credit for the student of the game that he is, for the fact that he's always watching film, for the fact that he spends his off seasons trying to develop into Dirk, trying to put together packages from other players.
And adjust them to himself and then put them in his game.
I'm really curious to see what he observed from his teammates on this team that he's going to try to bring out in the twenty twenty four to twenty five NBA season, because I would imagine there are more than a few he is for.
The Sixers had to be Dirk sometimes, like he told Tyrese Maxey, he's had to play different ways and he had to be something entirely else with Team USA, and now he brings that back to a Sixers team that has hopefully a future player on this stage in Tyrese Maxey on the global stage, and one from the past in Paul George, who is a nine time NBA All Star at the wing with MAXI like, you come off playing with Curry, Lebron Durant and you now have a team in the NBA that has one of the best
wing players in Paul George and one of the best guards in Tyrese Maxis. So that right there is probably why it stood out to me so much, because he can bring a lot of how he just played back to the NBA season. And as we wrap up, Lauren, I know you were locked in on other events, So what were some of your non basketball takeaways from the past few weeks? Other sports, other events, We watched it all.
I absolutely love the Olympics, and I love when it is timed such that I can wake up in the morning and just put it on and watch rock climbing. And someone told me what it was actually called. I don't want to mess it up, but it's not called rock climbing. There's a more technical term for what that sport is. But just watching how good these people are at what they do. Random sports, the kayaking.
I loved it. The surfing.
I watched so much surfing Matt Murphy for those that don't know, I grew up in gymnastics, though, and so I watched that with a particularly fine tooth comb. And I love watching the athletes that don't qualify for event finals, that don't qualify for team finals, that aren't participating in the all around, watching certain countries emerge in field teams, the Philippines, field teams that haven't existed in the composition that they brought in twenty twenty four in the past,
the dominance that Team USA showed throughout those events. Simone Biles obviously spectacular, Jordan Chiles, Jade Carey, watching Sunny Lee after all of the oh god, the adversity.
That she's overcome in the last eighteen months.
It was really special for watching Stevenaik oh my gosh.
The pommel horse king, watching the men watching well.
So Frederick Flips from TikTok was an Olympian, right, so I knew him more from TikTok than his from knowing his game right, But now that I'm more familiar with his game, it was spectacular to watch him thrive on the international stage. So I love watching gymnastics, I always will, but I also this Olympic cycle developed a fondness for the lesser known sports or the ones that at least
I wasn't as familiar with. Loved loved, loved watching just sort of whatever NBC and company was feeding me on a day to day.
I've gotten bigor into soccer, so watch some of the men's soccer, but also the US women's national team winning the gold medal. It's been interesting to follow. They have a new coach or manager in Emma Hayes, so seeing them get the job done in the Olympics. We've seen them on the World Cup stage, been kind of a famous team to follow for years, but on the Olympics stage it had been a little while so for them to come right in under the new manager and win
the gold medal. They have some exciting talent, just like the women's basketball team, So I leave you with that.
It was North Philly's.
Own Khalia Copper and the US women's team, coach by Cheryl Reeve, who's a South Jersey native, played in Philly at LaSalle. Their game was wild and France almost sent it to overtime, but the foot for Gabby Williams was on the line banked in a shot. So just some like we to bring it full circle. Just some incredible basketball to watch and shout outs all around.
Absolutely enjoyed throughout and particularly enjoyed watching Joel Embiid get his Olympic gold medal around his neck, the first active seventy six er to win in that context for Team USA.
And fun to chat about it with you, Matt Murphy.
Fun as always, and we'll have some fun stuff with the schedule to talk about the NBA schedule coming out in just a few days, so that will be something coming up next on our radar on the Insiders feed. Tell a friend about us, as this will be the podcast to listen to all season long leading up to the twenty twenty four twenty five NBA season and also throughout and player conversations. We still have some to come out sit down with Reggie Jackson and Andre Drummond, both
of them sat with us. That's still so maybe let a friend know that this is the place to be and that conversation was super fun. So that's upcoming podcast that we have here on seventy six Ers Insiders. But until we chat again, Lauren Rosen, thank you so much and I look forward
To the next one always Thanks Matt