The Golden State Warriors are in the middle of one of the most successful stretches in NBA history, and look poised to hoist the Larry O’Brien trophy for a third straight year in June. But even that level of success can’t stop the jokes about Golden State blowing that infamous 3-1 lead in the 2006 NBA Finals.
This weekend Joel Embiid got in on the fun, cautioning that his 76ers need to stay focused even though they lead their series against the Brooklyn Nets three games to one.
Joel Embiid calls out the Warriors losing up 3-1, Jimmy was out of there??? pic.twitter.com/e0FxHu7FhI
— Hoop Central (@TheHoopCentral) April 20, 2019
Andrew Bogut was on the team that lost to the Cavaliers in the 2015-16 Finals. He now regularly pens a column for Yahoo Sports Australia, and this week chose to comment on Embiid’s postgame joke.
“Joel Embiid saying the 76ers don’t want to do what we did in the 2016 Finals is just Joel being Joel – he’s a bit of a larrikin,” Bogut wrote. “But they have to get to a Finals series first before they can even think about doing that.
“It’s been a funny talking point for a lot of people in the league. But we haven’t taken any notice of it and it’s not something that’s been mentioned in the locker room.”
Confused about what the word “Larrikin” means? Shame on you!
The Oxford Dictionary says a larrikin is “A boisterous, often badly behaved young man,” or “A person with apparent disregard for convention; a maverick.”
If both the Warriors and the 76ers emerge from their respective conferences, back and forth could be an interesting subplot to the series. We imagine we’ll be hearing from Embiid on the subject shortly.