The main story out of Detroit on Tuesday night was Blake Griffin’s career-high 50-point performance, which included a game-winning and-one in the closing seconds of the Pistons’ 133-132 overtime win over the 76ers. But in a game as crazy as that one, there were plenty of other subplots to talk about, and Joel Embiid is always willing to talk. 

Late in the fourth quarter, Andre Drummond was assessed a second technical foul and was ejected from the game after an incident involving Embiid. The two had been going back and forth at each other all game, both with their play and with their trash talk. With just over 40 seconds left in the game, Embiid scored a bucket over Drummond to put the Sixers up, 120-118. 

After he scored, Drummond sort of tossed out a little chicken wing and Embiid tumbled over backwards to draw the technical foul. Despite the fact that it appeared Embiid flopped, he was ecstatic, gesturing for the ref to toss Drummond, and taunting the crowd. 

After the game, Embiid spoke about the incident, saying that the refs told the two players to knock it off with the cheap shots and trash talk, and the next one would earn a technical foul. 

“That’s why he got a technical foul,” Embiid said of the incident in question. “All I was doing was talking and playing basketball and trying to win the game. You can see that he hit me, his hand actually touched my face. But like I said, I feel like I own a lot of real estate in his head.”

This is just the latest in what has become a little feud between the two big men. 

Last season, Embiid told reporters that Drummond “doesn’t play any defense.” After hearing about the comments, Drummond said he was eager to play Embiid again, but the Sixers big man just responded by talking more trash, saying Drummond “can’t shoot.” Drummond shot back by saying, “I mean, you can’t really have a conversation with a man who can’t play a back-to-back.”

It will be interesting to see what happens between the two moving forward. Both are strong players and under 25 years old, so they should have dozens of matchups over the next few years. 

In case you were wondering, their next meeting is coming up soon. They’ll meet again on Nov. 3 in a Saturday afternoon matchup. 

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