Joel Embiid is none too pleased with his fellow No. 21-wearing big man.
In the third quarter of the Miami Heat’s win over the Philadelphia 76ers on Thursday, Embiid had an incident with Miami center Hassan Whiteside. As they were running up the floor, Whiteside appeared to initiate contact with Embiid and strike the Philly center in the back, hitting himself in the face in the process. Take a look:
Hassan Whiteside and Joel Embiid getting chippy. pic.twitter.com/1lFEeK07G3
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) March 9, 2018
Whiteside was whistled for a technical foul on the play, and Embiid was given a personal foul. After the game, Embiid called Whiteside out for his misdeeds.
“Looking at the replay, it looked like I didn’t touch him,” said the All-Star center, per Jessica Camerato of NBC Sports Philadelphia. “Then they called a double foul. [He] tried hit me in the back, which is kind of dirty because of the fact that I’ve had back problems. So we’re going to see about that. I won’t forget about that. … But I didn’t think I touched him. But then they called a technical foul on him because obviously he’s the one that made a dirty play.
“He hits really soft, so I didn’t feel anything,” Embiid added about Whiteside. “But just the action of him trying to do that I think is pretty messed up. I don’t care what we have outside of basketball but at the same time, you’ve got to respect the rules of basketball and play basketball and have fun doing it.”
Part of Embiid’s ire may have also come from a subsequent play in the game where Whiteside seemed to make a point of disrespecting him on a dunk.
Hassan Whiteside attempted to literally put his nuts in Joel Embiid’s face pic.twitter.com/lf4VxmH3WD
— The Brown Basketball Guy (@BrownBballGuy) March 9, 2018
The Heat and the Sixers will not meet again this regular season. Nevertheless though, it seems like Embiid’s list of seven-foot foes is constantly growing.
