Joel Embiid and Nic Claxton went up against one another when the Philadelphia 76ers took on the Brooklyn Nets on Wednesday night. The matchup was built up as the battle between former co-stars Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons, but it ended up getting heated between the two centers instead.
Joel Embiid is among the league leaders in scoring, slightly behind Luka Doncic in the race for the scoring title. And Nic Claxton has established himself as one of the league’s premier defenders this season. He thinks he should be the frontrunner to win the Defensive Player of the Year award. So it was expected that Embiid and Claxton would go at one another. When they did, though, it got feisty, and both big men got technicals.
Joel Embiid and Nic Claxton have a chat and end up with double technicalspic.twitter.com/7yLCBoXz7Q
— Dime (@DimeUPROXX) January 26, 2023
After the game, Joel Embiid opened up on what happened during their exchange, saying that Nic Claxton was scared to repeat what he said to him.
Joel Embiid said he exchanged words with Nic Claxton tonight because he "said something he shouldn't have"
"That's why when I walked up to his face, I told him to say it to my face again. That's why he looked away and he didn't say it again. He knows why" pic.twitter.com/ko9odyI5zH
— Nets Videos (@SNYNets) January 26, 2023
“He said something he shouldn’t have,” Embiid recalled. “That’s why when I walked up to his face, I told him to say it to my face again. That’s why he looked away, and he didn’t say it again because he knows why. You know, there’s not a lot of times where I get in those situations, but I’m not going to allow any sort of disrespect. That’s why he couldn’t say it to my face again.”
It seems Claxton got under Joel Embiid’s skin in that instance, but what makes it even more interesting is the fact that Claxton’s version of events is exactly the opposite.
Nic Claxton Claims He Repeated What He Said To Joel Embiid
As is often the case with interactions like this, Nic Claxton’s story was the exact opposite. His words about it after the game were shared by SI.
“I blocked his shot, and he was upset there was no foul call,” said the Nets center. “I said something to him, he told me to repeat it, and I repeated it. He walked up on me — I don’t know how I got a tech when I said one thing, and I’m just sitting there standing. He walks up on me, I get a tech, but I take it.”
Only the two big men know what exactly transpired between them. But Joel Embiid scored just 25 points in the game, well below his average. So on that front, Claxton did a great job on him. And Embiid and the Sixers got the victory in the end, so he too, managed to get a win out of it. This rivalry will be fun to watch if they meet in the playoffs.
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