Embiid wants 76ers to play boos during their seeding games

Joel Embiid has a compelling idea to motivate the Philadelphia 76ers during their games inside the bubble.

"We need some boos in here," he said on the "Rights to Ricky Sanchez" podcast. "I think that's what gets us going."

Embiid's proposal is rooted in familiarity, as the 76ers have heard booing from their fans in Philadelphia in recent months. Their displeasure was even heard during their first game of the 2019 postseason, prompting a postgame response from Ben Simmons in which he told booing fans "to stay on that side."

Embiid theorizes that hearing the anger from fans again might help the squad bust out of any slumps.

"When we're home, and fans start booing us, we're like, 'Oh, we gotta pick it up. It's not good, we don't want to hear it,'" he said. "So I gotta play hard, I gotta make plays.

"So when we're in the bubble and if we're down, if we're not playing hard, like, we need them to put sounds of boos from Philly fans here in the bubble so we can get it going."

The center isn't the only 76ers player to make the request. Simmons also said he hoped they would implement jeers while discussing virtual fans on July 24.

"They better put some boos in there for us," he said Friday, according to Kyle Neubeck of PhillyVoice.com. "If we're not playing hard, we want to hear those boos."

The 76ers play their first game of the season's restart Saturday against the Indiana Pacers.