Joel Embiid And Karl-Anthony Towns Were Ejected After Getting Into A Fight

The matchup between Joel Embiid and Karl-Anthony Towns on Wednesday night in Philadelphia was among the most anticipated individual matchups of the young season.

Unfortunately for Minnesota, the game wasn’t especially competitive, as the Sixers blitzed the Wolves from the jump and took a 19-point lead into halftime. In the third quarter, Embiid decided to let Towns know about the domination, doing a little flexing and preening after baskets and, eventually, frustration set in for the Wolves center.

The two got tangled up late in the third quarter after a Towns turnover when Embiid came over late for a trap and created a steal for Ben Simmons. As the Sixers broke away in transition, Towns and Embiid locked arms and suddenly were shoving each other and trying to throw each other in headlocks in a pretty legitimate fight, as far as those things go in the NBA, ultimately crashing to the floor as they were being separated.

Ben Simmons was among those peeling Towns off of Embiid and seemed to give the big man a bit of excessive force while on the ground, putting him in a chokehold.

https://twitter.com/DimeUPROXX/status/1189706274390380545

The two main combatants were, unsurprisingly, ejected from the game, and it’ll be interesting to see if any further punishment comes their way (or to Simmons once the NBA reviews the video further). Embiid celebrated his ejection by waving to the crowd and shadow-boxing, clearly enjoying the response he got out of Towns.

Towns’ parents were apparently above the tunnel Embiid exited, as pointed out by Cole Aldrich, and they were none too pleased with the Philly center.

It wasn’t the expected outcome of the matchup between two of the top centers in the NBA, but a budding rivalry may be building between the two after this tussle.