Joel Embiid’s criticism from Shaquille O’Neal and Charles Barkley, explained

Two nights after being criticized by Hall of Fame big men Shaquille O’Neal and Charles Barkley on TNT’s Inside the NBA, Joel Embiid responded with one of his best games of the season in the Philadelphia 76ers’ win over the Boston Celtics on Thursday night. Embiid acknowledged the criticism both before and after the game and said he spoke to O’Neal on the phone about his message.

Embiid was brilliant against Boston, finishing with a season-high 38 points to go along with 13 rebounds, six assists, and one block. Embiid’s performance included 16 fourth-quarter points to solidify Philadelphia’s 115-109 victory over their long-time rivals. It was the Sixers’ eighth win in nine games.

O’Neal and Barkley are now receiving credit for “lighting a fire” under Embiid, who is having another all-star caliber season but has seen a slight dip in his scoring numbers. Embiid joined the broadcasting duo after the game, where they thanked him for handling their criticism professionally.

“I appreciate you,” Embiid told Barkley and O’Neal. “I’ve really listened to what you said and Shaq. I’m going to keep working. I’m definitely going to use that and try to get better every single night. Thank you.”

The easy narrative is Embiid heard the criticism and delivered a signature performance against a hated rival on national TV. In reality, Embiid is one of the best players in the league and has been dominant throughout the season by most measures, even if his numbers are slightly down. This is everything that led to Embiid, Barkley, and O’Neal bonding together.

The 76ers and Denver Nuggets played Tuesday night on TNT, setting up a matchup between two of the league’s best centers in Embiid and Nikola Jokic. Both big men have rightfully earned the superstar label, but have gotten off to slow starts this season by their own lofty standards, with critics noting both need to get in better shape.

Barkley and O’Neal criticized both players on TNT before and after the game.

“If you want to be good, keep doing 22 points,” O’Neal said of Embiid’s scoring average. “You want to be great, give me 28, give me 30. You want to be great, watch Giannis, he wants to be great.”

Barkley repeated a similar line:

Barkley and O’Neal also criticized Embiid and Jokic for taking too many jumpers.

Embiid is taking 3.5 threes per game and making 31.5 percent. Jokic is taking four threes per game and making 23.9 percent. O’Neal and Barkley came up in a league where big men never took jumpers. Today’s bigs almost all shoot threes to help with their team’s spacing, to pull opposing centers away from the rim on defense, and to keep opponents honest.

The conversation about what Embiid and Jokic are lacking continued after the game even when Embiid led the Sixers to a win by putting up 22 points, 10 rebounds, and six assists.

Embiid was asked about O’Neal and Barkley’s comments before taking on the Celtics. He said he heard their criticism and would take it to heart.

Here are the comments, transcribed:

“I mean, that’s what they do. Maybe they’re right,” Embiid said. “I do think they’re right. I need to be more aggressive, just look to impose myself, just look to dominate.

“I think the whole season I haven’t done that and you can see the way it’s affected my efficiency and my stats, so I guess I need to go back to having fun and just dominate. But I get what they’re saying and I think they’re right. I’ve got to make a change.”

Embiid was widely praised for his mature response.

All Embiid did against the Celtics was finish with his season-high, 38 points, on 12-of-21 shooting. A Boston team that is weak in the middle simply had no answer for him.

Embiid was getting it done on the defensive end as well, deterring shots at the rim with his size and positioning, and emphatically swatting away Boston’s final look at the end of the game:

It was also Embiid’s second straight game with six assists. How many times have Barkley and O’Neal done that as players?

After the win over Boston, Embiid spoke about calling O’Neal prior to the game to talk about the criticism. Embiid said O’Neal initially thought he was upset, but the Sixers center instead talked out his frustrations this season and said he thought the criticism was “great” for him.

Embiid also joined the TNT crew after the game to talk about the criticism and his performance:

O’Neal and Barkley were getting a ton of praise after the game for motivating Embiid.

In reality, the criticism is a bit overblown. Embiid has been one of the 10 best players in the NBA this season, according to adjusted plus-minus stats like PIPM. He’s still averaging 22.7 points, 12.4 rebounds, 3.2 assists, and 2.5 blocks per game on above-average true shooting efficiency. Yes, his scoring is down a bit — falling from 38.6 points per 100 possessions to 35.6 points per 100 possessions. At the same time, his rebounding has been slightly better, he’s getting more steals than ever, and his assists have remained similarly high.

The Sixers are also rolling, winning 12 of their last 14 games to move to 19-7 overall, just a shade below Miami for the No. 2 seed in the East. This is where Philly was supposed to be.

As a player, O’Neal had a long history of playing himself into shape during the regular season. The same can be said for Barkley. You can’t blame Sixers fans for thinking their criticism of Embiid was hypocritical, even if Embiid responded well to it.

As Sixers fans noted, the criticism was also a self-fulfilling prophecy. If Embiid struggled against Boston, O’Neal and Barkley were right. If Embiid dominated, they were still right.

The real test for Embiid will come in the playoffs. The Sixers were a historic Kawhi Leonard bounce away from beating the Raptors in Game 7 of the East semis last year. Who knows how their season ends if they win that game? The Sixers aren’t perfect — Philly media has also criticized Embiid and teammate Ben Simmons — but they’re pretty damn good, and so is Embiid.

For a night, Embiid, O’Neal, and Barkley came together for a feel-good story. Don’t be surprised if this gets brought up again, no matter how well or how poorly Embiid plays.