Two of the league’s best centers in Joel Embiid and Hassan Whiteside got into a bit of a shoving match early in the third quarter of Miami’s 108-99 victory over Philadelphia on Thursday:
The Hassan Whiteside vs Joel Embiid battle continues ???? pic.twitter.com/2VfpN2w4ba
— Def Pen Hoops (@DefPenHoops) March 9, 2018
Later in the game, Whiteside finished an emphatic dunk over Embiid, sparking the fire between the two bigs even more:
Hassan Whiteside. Bully. pic.twitter.com/RiDMk3aM6t
— Miami HEAT (@MiamiHEAT) March 9, 2018
Embiid expressed his displeasure with Whiteside’s cheap shot – which earned the Heat center a technical foul after a double foul was given to both players – after the game, according to Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel:
“He tried to hit me in the back, which is kind of dirty because of the fact that I’ve had back problems. We’re going to see about that. I won’t forget about that.
He hits pretty soft, so I didn’t feel anything. But just the action of him trying to like do that, I think it’s pretty messed up.
I didn’t think I touched him. But then they called a technical foul on him because obviously he’s the one that made a dirty play.
I think he’s pretty messed up. I don’t care what we have outside of basketball. But at the same time, you’ve got to respect the rules of basketball and play basketball and have fun doing it.
I’m not worried about that. We lost the game. I’m worried about, ‘Are we going to get better?’ “
Whiteside isn’t the only star center Embiid has formed a heated on-court rivalry with, as the ‘The Process’ also feuded with Detroit Pistons’ All-Star Andre Drummond after calling him out for not playing defense in an earlier matchup this season.
