Marcus Smart and Joel Embiid have a historical past of confrontation with one another, and the 2 bought reacquainted with one other dust-up through the Celtics’ season-opening win over the 76ers on Tuesday evening.
But when the mud settled, it was Smart who took exception to their newest episode.
On the primary play of the third quarter, after Jayson Tatum missed a shot, Embiid pulled down the rebound over Smart, whose left arm bought caught within the Sixers star’s grasp after which went down after Embiid pulled his arm after which hit him with an elbow to his again. Smart, clearly indignant about what occurred, then grabbed at Embiid’s leg, and the middle fell to the ground earlier than the groups needed to be separated as tempers flared in an emotional alternate.
After the sport, Smart – who was the one one who was issued a technical foul after a video evaluation – ripped Embiid for what he believed was a unclean play by the Sixers heart.
“Went for a rebound. Basketball play. Went for the steal. Basketball play,” Smart mentioned. “Referee blows his whistle, calls a foul. I cease play, my arm’s nonetheless caught in there and he tried to interrupt it. And then I’m the one one who will get a tech. Everybody noticed it. I don’t must preserve speaking about it. If I did that, I’m in all probability ejected, suspended three video games, 4 video games, fined. But the truth that I used to be the one one which bought I suppose one thing out of that’s form of past me. Especially (being) defending DPOY (Defensive Player of the Year) and that’s how he will get handled.
“It’s tough. But, like I said, it’s maturity. I could have cracked his head open but I didn’t. And that’s the maturity we have. So we move on from it. It is what it is. And we control what we can control.”
Embiid mentioned he wasn’t certain what occurred and chalked up the emotional sequence to an intense rivalry.
“They had called a foul and then I walked away and next thing I know my foot is getting caught up and I slipped and next thing Jaylen (Brown) was on top of me and I don’t know,” Embiid mentioned. “It’s basketball. Emotions, first game of the season, rivalry, Boston-Philly, a lot of intensity … so, it’s all good.”
Brown shortly ran to Smart’s protection firstly of the dust-up and put his fingers on Embiid earlier than wagging his finger on the Sixers heart. He was making an attempt to ship a message.
“I thought the duration of the game, Embiid was getting away with a lot of unnecessary pushing and shoving,” Brown mentioned. “Just being a big guy, that’s what he does. But he was throwing his weight around a little bit. I had said something before that moment, but they kind of let it go, brushed it off. So in that play … it seemed like he was trying to hurt Smart in a sense. Instincts just came right over. Ended up being nothing, ended up being a play-on, nobody got hurt. We just ended up finishing the game, played some good basketball. But we got each other’s backs out there and we’re not taking no mess this year.”
Source: www.bostonherald.com