Home NBA Joel Embiid, Marcus Smart details heated altercation in Sixers-Celtics season opener

Joel Embiid, Marcus Smart details heated altercation in Sixers-Celtics season opener

For both Marcus Smart and Joel Embiid, an on-court altercation doesn’t sound unusual between them. And tonight, the latest snapshot that includes the two of them is already out and now clipped to their shared rivalry.

At the third salvo of both the Philadelphia 76ers and the Boston Celtics, Smart and Embiid found themselves fighting for a rebound. As the big man gained possession of the ball, the veteran guard’s left arm was clinging to him. Embiid wrestled the ball and took a swing, causing Smart to hit the floor and be upset about the sequence.

Smart called out Embiid for trying to injure him in the battle for the game ball.

“Went for a rebound. Basketball play,” Smart said, via Brian Robb of MassLive. “Went for the steal. Basketball play. Referee blows his whistle, calls a foul. I stop play, my arm’s still stuck in there and he tries to break it. And then I’m the only one who gets a tech. Everybody saw it.”

Embiid and Smart followed it up with a heated exchange, with Jaylen Brown even joining and pointing his fingers at the Sixers star. The three were mobbed by combined players of Philly and Boston just to be separated.

Smart assessed a personal foul, added by a technical. For him, the judgment was plain one-sided.

“I don’t have to keep talking about it,” Smart said. “If I did that, I’m probably ejected, suspended three games, four games, fined. But the fact that I was the only one that got I guess something out of that is kind of beyond me. Especially defending DPOY and that’s how he gets treated. It’s tough.”

On the side of Embiid, he can only acknowledge that the Sixers-Celtics rivalry is alive and flowing on the sparked incident.

“Honestly I don’t know,” Embiid said about the event with Smart. “They called a foul. I walked away and the next thing I know my foot is getting caught up. I slipped. Then next thing I know Jaylen was on top of me. 

“It’s basketball. Emotions. First game of the season. Rivalry, Boston-Philly. Lot of intensity. It’s all good.”

The Celtics and the Sixers can only wait until Feb. 8 to once again reignite their feisty Eastern Conference stand-off.

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