Philadelphia 76ers Joel Embiid pokes fun at Marcus Smart’s claim he ‘flales’ for calls

After Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid made his way to the free throw line in a 117-109 win over the Boston Celtics on Wednesday night, Celtics guard Marcus Smart expressed his displeasure over how the match was refereed.

Embiid made and took more free throws than the Celtics as a team, being 17 of 21 from the line, compared to 13 of 20 for Boston. The Sixers finished 36 of 45 as a team.

“I can’t beat this,” Smart said. “Hard to win that way.”

It’s tough to win, period, when Embiid – who finished with 42 points, 10 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals – plays like he did against Boston, as he continued to argue that he was firmly in contention for the league. MVP award in the first month of the season.

Regardless of which defender thrown at him – whether it was Tristan Thompson, who started, or Daniel Theis, who closed – Embiid succeeded, scoring in double digits in each of the first three quarters, then scoring six points in the final. . seven minutes, in addition to stealing a key, to help put the Celtics on the sidelines.

Part of that stretch, however, included Embiid making three trips to the foul line – trips that Smart thought she made, in part, by embellishing the contact.

“It’s tough,” Smart said. “It’s tough. Especially when we have our hands up a lot, and he waves and gets the call, then at the other end our guys attack the rim, getting a lot of contact, and we don’t get it. just not the whistle It’s hard to play like that It’s hard.

“If the tables were reversed, I would do it every time. I mean, I would be too if every time I put my arms up or every time I got hit I go to the free throw line. I mean it’s a little hard not to get into a rhythm that way when you shoot 21 free throws alone and they let you hack on the other end.

“It’s tough, but we fought. The team did a good job. We were there to give ourselves a win and try to come back on Friday.”

Embiid was briefed during his post-game interview of Smart’s comments. Understandably, the big man had a few thoughts on how Smart saw the game play out, pointing out that Smart is quite well known for selling appeals to officials.

“Did Marcus Smart just tell me that I was flailing a lot?” Embiid said. “Come on. 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. I mean, if you watch basketball and you are student of the game and if you are really careful during the game we all see. Every foul I got a foul. They probably don’t call them all, like the last one. There were three minutes left, I went up, and it was a fault and they knew it, but they didn’t call it, so there are a lot of things that they don’t call, and there are a lot that they call because you have to .

“The game is physical. The other teams tend to try to be more physical against me. And I guess I’m just smarter than everyone else. I take advantage of it. I just enjoy the way they protect me. .You can call it, I dunno, IQ basketball, like you’re gonna put your hand up there, I’m gonna take it and I’m gonna get to the free throw line, because I know it I’m a great shooter free throws and it’s a better chance for me to help the team win in those situations. “

What was clear on Wednesday was that, while a faulty call or two could be argued, Embiid was the dominant figure in the game. With Jayson Tatum absent, the Celtics had four players with at least 19 points: Jaylen Brown (26), Smart (25), Theis (23) and Kemba Walker (19 in just 22 minutes).

But despite this offensive outing, the Celtics couldn’t do anything with Embiid all night. He used his size advantage to get one clear look at basket after basket.

Celtics coach Brad Stevens, when asked about Embiid’s repeated attempts at the charity strip, simply said his team need to do a better job to prevent him from going there.

“We have to do our best to play flawlessly,” said Stevens. “I’m going to go back and look at each of them, see what we can do better. He’s going to score, but 42 is too much. It will be difficult to win a game when the best player on the other team will score 42 points.

“You have to come back to how we can be better. He not only scored those points but he also handled the brace very well a few times that led to three points. He had a huge impact on the game of tonight, and he was wonderful. “

Wednesday’s game was the second time in eight days. Embiid had 40 points at home against another Eastern Conference power. He scored 45 points, including 35 points in the second half and overtime, on January 12 against the Miami Heat.

The victory improved Philadelphia to 10-2 when Embiid plays this season. Coach Doc Rivers and Embiid’s teammates then sang his praises.

“It’s not sort of, it’s for sure the MVP caliber [play]”Said Tobias Harris, who had 22 points.” Night after night he controls the game, controls the paint.

“[He’s] for sure we’re having an MVP year, and one of the biggest assets is that we continue to keep him going game after game, and we are progressing, even he himself continues to improve, throughout this year. But I’m happy for him because that’s what he put on, and when you win, or succeed as a team, you get that kind of notoriety for sure. “