Joel Embiid has shown the propensity for trash talk battles with fellow Eastern Conference centers and, on Monday evening, he was back to his old tricks. The Philadelphia 76ers big man exploded for a huge game in a 97-86 win over the Detroit Pistons and, in the aftermath, Embiid shared that some words from opposing center Andre Drummond spurred him on throughout the contest.
Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer brings word from Embiid, who also made sure to sneak in a jab at Drummond’s overall defensive aptitude.
“Defensively, he doesn’t play any defense. When we started the game, he was being aggressive and he was talking, too. And then I like, ‘So what I like [in my mind] you want to do that? I’m going to kick your ass then. So that’s what I did.”
Embiid wasn’t done with simply calling his shot against Drummond and he even let the world know that Drummond wanted to “switch up” to avoid one-on-one battles with the newly-minted max player.
“In my mind, I was like, ‘You want to switch up, because you are playing against me. You want to be all physical and talk [stuff].’ So I was like, ‘you are going to get our ass beat.’ I love that.”
Drummond finished the evening with a respectable line of 14 points and 14 rebounds in 38 minutes but the Pistons were -11 when he was on the floor and, well, the older center simply was outplayed by Embiid. In total, Embiid put up 30 points (on 11-for-15 shooting) and nine rebounds in just 28 minutes of play and, in an 11-point win, the Sixers were +21 when their standout center was on the floor.
At this point, it seems as if Joel Embiid is an equal opportunity player when it comes to showing up opponents but, when you’re as good as he appears to be, the downside isn’t quite as steep to that level of bravado.
