Joel Embiid wanted to make one thing very clear in his press conference following his fight with Karl Anthony-Towns.
“First off, I ain’t no [expletive],” Embiid said while speaking to reporters following his ejection in the Sixers 117-95 win over the Timberwolves.
The line appeared to be a shoutout to teammate Mike Scott, who said the line after After Game 7 between the Sixers and Raptors last season.
Embiid and Towns battled in the third quarter, getting tangled up and engaging in mostly a pushing match that ended up with Towns in a Ben Simmons headlock and Embiid shadowboxing and urging the crowd for applause.
As he went into the tunnel, Embiid was senaraded by “MVP” chants.
“I was built for this city, and they were built for me. The reaction and the love they have for me, I can’t thank them enough,” Embiid said. “That’s what the city of Philadelphia is about. You gotta come in here, you gotta fight. You know you gotta play hard. You gotta be gritty.”
Embiid loved the fan appreciation for him as he left the game tonight. “I was built for this city and they were built for me… you gotta be a Broad Street bully.”
Simmons was one of the first people in to help throw Towns off Embiid and pinned him to the floor after the scuffle.
“I know (my teammates) have my back,” Embiid said. “That’s what I love about this team. We love each other. It goes beyond basketball.”
Another one of the first people in was Sixers coach Brett Brown, who carefully maneuvered as he tried to get in between the two massive men.
“My immediate reaction is to get right in the mix, and try as best you can, 100 and whatever pounds lighter, and breaking it up,” Brown said.
God bless Brett Brown
One of the first people to grin after the fight was Scott. He said in the locker room he didn’t condone what happened, but just couldn’t contain his true feelings.
“It was definitely entertaining. Let’s get all the bad [expletive] out: you don’t wanna condone it, the kids were watching, we’ll see what the league does,” Scott said. “But I loved it. It was great. He probably did — nah, that was great, [expletive] that, that was great.
“He’s the greatest man,” Scott continued. “He’s our superstar, our all-star. Our guy is playing like that and that’s Philly man, that’s Philly tough. Some people don’t like it, but shit, we in Philly. 1-0 Jo.”
Joel Embiid Says Fight With Karl-Anthony Towns Came out of Nowhere
Karl-Anthony Towns of the Minnesota Timberwolves and Joel Embiid.
Embiid noted that there wasn’t much trash talk leading up to the scrap and the fight almost came out of nowhere. However, the duo have some history.
After a win against Minnesota in 2017, Embiid roasted KAT on social media, posting a photo saying, “Eurostepping our way through Minnesota and we ended up raising the cat last night.”
Towns commented on the post, writing “that caption was as trash as your picture quality.”
Embiid respond quickly, writing: “Better quality than your defense.”
While Embiid said he plans to cool the trash talk this year, although he still admitted he enjoys it following the KAT fight.
“Going into the season I kinda said I was gonna try to stay from all that (trash talking),” Embiid said. “But, you know, like I said before I never start anything. I always react. I guess it always finds me.”
Joel Embiid on confrontations on the court: “Going into the season I kinda said I was gonna try to stay from all that (trash talking). But, you know, like I said before I never start anything. I always react. I guess it always finds me.”
Suspensions Likely Coming for Both Joel Embiid, Karl Anthony-Towns
GettyPhiladelphia 76ers Ben Simmons.
Embiid said he doesn’t believe he will be suspended because he didn’t throw any punches, but the league may have other ideas. There hasn’t been a fight of that magnitude in the NBA for quite a while.
Joel Embiid & KAT are about to be suspended for a lot of games. Haven’t seen two dudes duke it out like that in a while.
“Didn’t connect,” Embiid said. “Maybe it would’ve turned into something different if it would’ve actually connected. We move on.”
NBA Crew Chief Mark Ayotte spoke with Rob Maaddi of the Associated Press and explained the situation.
“We deemed the altercation a fight. Therefore, by rule, they’re both ejected,” Ayotte said. “I just saw them each lock arms. And that escalated to the fight.”
Joel Embiid’s post-game (1/2)
— I like to get into people’s mind, I like to [occupy] real estate.”
— “I aint no bitch.”
— “Didn’t connect, and I don’t know, maybe it would’ve turned into something different if it would’ve actually connected. We move on.”
— “We have our backs.”
There would also be something coming for Simmons, who was the third man in and head-locked Towns, which is obvious to see in the video. However, Ayotte said he saw Simmons as the peacemaker.
The Sixers head out on a four-game Western Conference road trip, starting on Nov. 2 and returning to Wells Fargo Center on Nov. 10 against the Hornets. They will have to wait and see if they will be without their two stars.
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Joel Embiid Sounds Off on Fight With Karl Anthony-Towns