NBA Beef: Joel Embiid & Karl-Anthony Towns Ejected After Brawl That Ended With A Chokehold From Ben Simmons

Source: Gene Sweeney Jr. / Getty

Remember a few weeks before the NBA season began when Joel Embiid said he’d quit trash-talking so much and focus on playing?

Not even 10 games into the season and he’s already gotten under the skin of Karl-Anthony Towns. Towns is usually an angel on the court and has a pristine record of keeping his hands to himself… but that was until he got tied up under the basket with the troll master himself, Embiid. It started when the two bigs began to shove each other and Towns got so heated he took a swing at Embiid and missed, so the wrestled to the ground. Embiid didn’t hesitate to even jam his thumb into KAT’s eye in an attempt to subdue him.

Things got even worse from there as both benches were cleared and Ben Simmons ran to defend his teammate and put Towns in a headlock. Yikes. Things calmed and both players were ejected because officials classified it as a fight.

“We deemed the altercation a fight. Therefore, by rule, they’re both ejected,” said Mark Ayotte, the officials’ crew chief. “I just saw them each lock arms. And that escalated to the fight.”

But if you though Embid was done wth the trolling and puffing out his chest, you’ve got the wrong guy.

While heading back to the locker room he starting pumping up the crowd by shadow boxing and even had a few words to say in the post-game presser.

“I was built for this city,” Embiid said following the game. “The love they have for me, I can’t thank them enough. I appreciate all the love. That reaction was probably the loudest I ever heard them. That’s what the city of Philadelphia is all about.”

Towns, as expected remained professional when asked about what the game developed into.

“It’s a competitive game. As a team, we need to play better with our system. We didn’t execute our game plan,” he said. “I’m disappointed in the (loss). I don’t think we played our game. We were playing a different type of basketball.”

Embiid took to Instagram –like he usually does after embarrassing an opponent– with a caption that read, “Great team win!!! I was raised around lions and a cat pulled on me tonight lmao @jimmybutler I missed being part of the 3rd stringers… I got his mom giving middle fingers. That’s some SERIOUS REAL ESTATE #FightNight #IAintNoBitch”

And if you were wondering, the Sixer pummeled the Wolves 117-95.

NBA Beef: Joel Embiid & Karl-Anthony Towns Ejected After Brawl That Ended With A Chokehold From Ben Simmons  was originally published on cassiuslife.com