Joel Embiid Says Sixers Aren’t Worried About Celtics or Bucks

Following Thursday night’s game at home against the Memphis Grizzlies, the Philadelphia 76ers improved to 39-19 on the year. They remain in the Eastern Conference’s third seed, three and a half games in front of the Cleveland Cavaliers and three games behind the top-seeded Boston Celtics.

While the Sixers are the third-best team in the East at the moment, many seem to believe the conference's first two seeds, Boston and Milwaukee, are in a two-team race to punch their ticket to the NBA Finals this year.

Considering they remain dominant and each has an Eastern Conference title under their belt over the last two years, the Sixers have struggled to convince many that they have better title odds than the two teams.

After picking up their fifth-straight win over the second-seeded Memphis Grizzlies in comeback fashion, what does Sixers center Joel Embiid think about the public’s opinion on the Eastern Conference race?

“We're not worried about Boston or Milwaukee,” said the center. “We’re worried about ourselves and how we can get better every single night. We can take this experience that we had tonight and try to be better.”

The Sixers got off to a slow start on Thursday night, falling into a 17-point hole in the first quarter. While they trailed for the majority of the matchup, the Sixers took the lead late in the fourth quarter and made it out of the matchup with a five-point win.

“As much as I would like to not be down 17 points every single time, it's also good to see that you've got the quality, and you got the right guys to be able to kind of come back from those types of leads,” Embiid continued. “You learn something from tonight, and you move on.”

Moving on means gearing up for a matchup against the top team in the East. On Saturday, the Sixers will host the Celtics for the first time this year in what becomes their third matchup of the season against each other.

When the two teams met on October 18 for the season-opener, Boston made a statement and collected a 126-117 win over Philadelphia. In early February, the Sixers paid a visit to Boston for the second and final time during the regular season. Despite being shorthanded, the Celtics would overcome the odds and beat the Sixers 106-99.

As much as everybody wants the Sixers getting revenge over the Celtics on the brain for the rivalry’s sake, Embiid is simply focused on winning the game, learning whatever lessons come during the process, and moving on to the next one.

“As far as worrying about other teams, we don’t,” Embiid finished. “We just worry about ourselves.”

Last season, the Sixers tied the season series against the Celtics 2-2. On Saturday, they’ll need a win if they aim to see similar results. While defeating Boston could be a statement win for the Sixers, Embiid seems to be approaching the matchup business as usual.

Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for All76ers, a Sports Illustrated channel. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_.