Raptors head coach Nick Nurse has made it clear he’s not happy with the way the first two games of Sixers-Raptors has been officiated. He won’t stop whining about it. He was very vocal after Game 1, when he felt things weren’t even and that the referees had missed obvious calls against the Sixers.
So at the end of Game 2, after the Sixers once again dominated Toronto and also took way more foul shots than the Raptors, Joel Embiid decided to park himself by the Raps’ bench and chat Nurse up for a second about – what else? – foul calls.
Cameras caught the two talking in what seemed like a slightly heated manner, so reporters asked both Nurse and Embiid after the game what they were talking about.
Nurse gave a fairly sterile answer:
Love that he’s basically admitting the Raptors’ plan to stop Embiid is to foul him. It’s the only way! Sorry!
But Embiid’s answer was way more entertaining, because he’s Joel Embiid and entertainment is what he does.
Here’s what Embiid said he told Nurse:
“I mean, he’s a great coach obviously, with what he’s been able to accomplish. I always have been a big fan. But I told him – respectfully, I told him to stop bitching about calls because I saw what he said last game.”
MY GOODNESS, JOEL FROM THE TOP ROPE.
Throwing in the “respectfully” is what separates the great ones from everyone else. That’s just perfect delivery, all the way through. That’s elite trash-talking.
Build Nurse up, rightfully give him props for being a great coach, and then tell him to shut up – respectfully, of course.
Joel Embiid is a one-of-a-kind talent, on the court and in press conferences. What a beast.
