Joel Embiid and the Philadelphia 76ers had a testier-than-expected win against the Los Angeles Clippers Tuesday. Jimmy Butler earned his first career ejection, and he and Embiid both received technical fouls after scuffling with Avery Bradley and Patrick Beverley, respectively.
There was also the slight matter of Embiid getting at it with his own teammate Ben Simmons after Simmons went for a rebound dangerously close to Embiid’s recently surgically-repaired face. Altogether, it was a surprisingly contentious affair for what ended up being a wire-to-wire win for Philadelphia.
Fortunately for the Sixers, the vibe was much more happy-go-lucky postgame, aided in no small part by the presence of Jeff Garlin, the comedian of Curb Your Enthusiasm fame.
Garlin popped into Embiid’s postgame press conference, introducing himself as “Jeff Garlin of Pirates of the Caribbean Magazine” to ask Embiid about his favorite Pirates of the Caribbean movie. Check out the full clip.
Comedian Jeff Garlin from “Curb Your Enthusiam” crashes Joel Embiid’s scrum, identifies himself as a reporter for “Pirates of the Caribbean Magazine” and cracks up when the Sixers center has no idea what he’s talking about pic.twitter.com/wu3ywGYgO8
— Ben Golliver (@BenGolliver) January 2, 2019
A couple things to note here: Kudos to the rest of the reporters for not immediately cracking up and allowing Garlin’s question to actually go through. Embiid was much nicer than he could have been, seeing as the team had to travel to Phoenix that night, he seems to have no idea who Garlin is, and it is fair to wonder if he has seen a Pirates of the Caribbean movie. The correct answer, to be clear, is obviously the first movie. Watching Garlin lose it after Embiid moves on to the next question is also a delight.
Garlin had the best time in the media scrum after the game. He was most excited to see Clippers head coach Doc Rivers, a fellow Chicago native, and reminisced about the time he saw Rivers in an airport but didn’t know if he should go up and say hello. The two finally got their meeting in the famed tunnels of Staples Center, bringing a little harmony to an otherwise combative night.
