Sixers star Joel Embiid laughs off Marcus Smart’s ‘flailing’ accusation
Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid had himself a big night again on Wednesday going for 42 points and 10 rebounds while leading the team to a 117-109 win over the Boston Celtics. He was absolutely unguardable as he shot 12-for-19 from the floor and he got to the line 21 times.
The high number of free-throw attempts bothered Celtics guard Marcus Smart who called Embiid out for flailing, essentially flopping, his way to calls. The Celtics as a team shot 20 free-throw attempts so they were understandably upset with the discrepancy in attempts.
Knowing Smart’s reputation as a flopper in this league, the accusation was surprising to the big fella.
“Marcus Smart just said I flail a lot? Come on,” laughed Embiid. “I’m sure he knows himself and he knows his game too, he does a lot of that and I don’t think I do.”
Joel Embiid: “Marcus Smart says I flail a lot? Come on now.” https://t.co/J1yx7pf951
— Ky Carlin (@Ky_Carlin) January 21, 2021
Celtics big man Daniel Theis had five fouls trying to defend Embiid in the post as he used his body and skill to be able to get easy buckets and get to the line.
“If you watch basketball and if you’re a student of the game and you actually pay attention during the game, every single foul, I got fouled,” Embiid continued. “They probably don’t call all of them like the last one. When there was 10 minutes left and I went up and that was a foul and they knew it, but they didn’t call it so there’s a lot that they don’t call, and there’s a lot that they call cause you have to, the game is physical.”
Teams try to send waves of defenders to deter Embiid, which is what Boston did as well on Wednesday, and Embiid is going to use his skill to be able to draw fouls. He understands when he has to be able to draw fouls and get to the line and help his team get wins.
“Other teams try to be extra physical against me,” the star big man continued. “I guess I’m just smarter than everybody else. I just take advantage of it. I just take advantage of how they’re guarding me. You can call that, I don’t know, basketball IQ. If you’re gonna put your hand up there, I’m gonna take advantage of it and I’m gonna get to the free-throw line because I know that I’m a great free-throw shooter and that’s a better chance for me to help the team win in those situations.”
Embiid and the Sixers will tangle with Smart and the Celtics again on Friday.
