There may be a rivalry brewing between Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid and Detroit Pistons center Andrew Drummond.
Embiid studied film of Drummond before their game Monday night and came away from the game, after dominating Drummond, convinced that the Detroit big man is not a good defensive player.
“Defensively, he doesn’t play any defense,” Embiid said, according to The Inquirer.
“When we started the game, he was being aggressive,” Embiid said about his matchup with Drummond, “and he was talking, too. … So what I was like [in my mind], ‘You want to do that? I’m going to kick your [butt] then.’ So that’s what I did.”
“In my mind, I was like, ‘You want to switch up, because you are playing against me. You want to be all physical and talk [trash],'” Embiid said of Drummond’s play. “So I was like, ‘You are going to get your [butt beat].’ I love that.”
Embiid’s play and the poor performance of Drummond helped the 76ers to a 97-86 win at Detroit.
Detroit head coach Stan Van Gundy was perplexed about how poorly his team played and spoke about it to the media postgame about the team giving up big leads early on in their games.
“It’s mind-boggling to have two games in a row where we weren’t ready to play,” Van Gundy said. “We have to figure out a way to fix that, whether those five guys can boost the intensity or if we have to change the lineup.”
With the trash talking Embiid has done about Drummond, Detroit and Philadelphia may have a little rivalry heating up, but Drummond needs to respond with a much better performance the next time he goes head-to-head with Embiid.
It will be interesting to see how the SBG Global Sportsbook rates this matchup and if there is any additional interest in it as the Embiid/Drummond rivalry brews.
For now, chalk a victory up for Embiid and the Sixers.