PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The physicality of the NBA playoffs is on full display in the Sixers-Raptors first-round series, with MVP candidate Joel Embiid right in the middle of it. Toronto has been fouling Embiid left and right — and Raptors head coach Nick Nurse has publicly complained about the plays.
Toward the end of the 76ers’ 112-97 Game 2 win, Embiid and Nurse shared a visibly tense courtside exchange.
Postgame, both expressed great respect for one another. Embiid is one of the best players in the league, and Nurse is a championship-winning head coach. But their disagreement was apparent.
“He’s a great coach,” Embiid said of Nurse. “Always been a big fan, but I told him, respectfully, to stop bitching about calls because I saw what he said last game.”
Nurse thought Embiid got away with offensive fouls in Game 1.
“He was saying to me that ‘I’m gonna keep making all the free throws if you keep fouling me,’ ” Nurse said of Embiid. “And I said, ‘Well, you might have to.’ ”
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Embiid believed the number of fouls called on the Raptors was warranted, adding there probably should have been more.
Embiid is the first center to win an NBA scoring title since Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal in 2000. Shaq, of course, is a member of TNT’s popular “Inside The NBA” crew. As a fellow dominant big man, he came to Embiid’s defense.
“That’s what the Earthlings do when they can’t find another way to stop you. They start complaining about [calls],” O’Neal said. “They fouled him. They playing physical, so when the Earthlings play physical, us as aliens, we gotta play physical. Sometimes as the aliens when we play physical, you little Earthlings can’t take it and you start crying and whining.”
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