The longstanding discord between Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid and Detroit Pistons center Andre Drummond added another chapter to its lore last night. In Detroit’s thrilling 133-132 overtime win against Philadelphia, Embiid put in some serious work on the court, finishing with 33 points and 11 rebounds to Drummond’s 14 and 16, respectively.
As our Drew Packham pointed out in the latest About Last Night filing, the two big men were going at each other all game. Embiid made a point throughout the game to let Drummond know he couldn’t guard him, and with 42.8 seconds left in regulation, Drummond was ejected after picking up his second technical foul.
Just before that, Embiid scored in the post on Drummond to put Philly up, 120-118. As the ball went through the net, Embiid and Drummond were standing near each other. Embiid then seemed to act as if Drummond had hit him in the face and fell to the ground. That got Drummond tossed.
Per Michael Rothstein of ESPN.com, Drummond said he was warned by the officials about the physical play between the two big men. After the Sixers’ loss, Embiid said that overall he feels he has Drummond’s number.
“I think I own a lot of real estate in his head,” Embiid said. “We lost, so I’m not supposed to talk trash, but he knows damn well that he can’t guard me. But that was a team effort. You know, Blake had a good game, and they were able to pull it off, so we got another one tomorrow, and we got to do a better job.”
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“His hand touched my face, and you know, going back, what the referees were saying the whole game, there were a lot of cheap shots taken,” Embiid told reporters. “At one point, I think [referee] Tyler [Ford] said that the next cheap shot, the next one is going to get a technical foul, and that’s why he got the other technical foul.
“All I was doing was just talking and playing basketball and trying to win the game, and obviously on the second one, you can see that he hit me, and his hand actually touched his face. … But like I said, I feel like I own a lot of real estate in his head.”
#Sixers @JoelEmbiid on why Andre Drummond got ejected. The center also added “I feel like I own a lot of real estate in his head.” pic.twitter.com/M5ciGdzF5w
— Keith Pompey (@PompeyOnSixers) October 24, 2018
After hearing of Embiid’s comments about owning “real estate in his head,” Drummond took to Twitter and posted the following message: “Lol does he? If that’s so he wouldn’t be so excited to have me off the floor? Think about it that’s a silly statement ! I’ll take the W though enjoy flight home #Emmyaward winning actor”
Lol does he? If that’s so he wouldn’t be so excited to have me off the floor? Think about it that’s a silly statement ! I’ll take the W though enjoy flight home #Emmyaward winning actor
— Andre Drummond (@AndreDrummond) October 24, 2018
Drummond and Embiid have exchanged words through the media in the past, with Embiid saying last October that Drummond doesn’t play defense and that he couldn’t shoot. Drummond fired back by calling out Embiid’s injury history and inability to play in back-to-back games for most of his career. Overall, Embiid has a 3-1 lifetime record against Drummond.
The Pistons and Sixers will next face each other on Nov. 3 in Philadelphia.
