The Philadelphia 76ers and the Brooklyn Nets had a tense game that reflected their status as two of the best teams in the Eastern Conference. The 76ers walked away victorious, but the game was highlighted by a tense confrontation between superstars Joel Embiid and Kevin Durant.
During the game, things got tense between Durant and Embiid, and the two had words with each other. The confrontation occurred after Embiid scored a clutch bucket to put the game out of reach for the Nets. Durant and KD went at it verbally and even had a small war of gestures after the game.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ToAwaGSS0ushttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkqVEEdE7tg
After the game, in the post-game press conference, a reporter asked Kevin Durant whether Joel Embiid said anything that crossed the line, in order to understand what prompted the confrontation between the two. Durant said there was nothing of the sort, and that it was just friendly banter between the two.
— Rob Perez (@WorldWideWob) December 31, 2021
“Nah. He ain’t really say nothing. I was just turnt up. I was trying to, no matter what, we down 18, they got the game in control. Just letting them know we still here I guess. He aint say nothing that cross the line, we all respect each other out there, we respect this team, I respect all players on their team and vice-versa. Just how we play.”
Durant wasn’t the only one to echo these sentiments. Embiid also came out after the game, saying that it was just natural competition and not anything serious between the two superstars. KD and Embiid clearly have respect for each other, but neither was going to back down in the face of adversity.
Embiid has been in the news lately, for a lot of comments, especially against Karl-Anthony Towns recently, after Towns made some comments about Russell Westbrook. Suffice to say, Embiid has had a newsworthy week so far.
