Draymond Green, Joel Embiid Make Bizarre Appearances on Champions League Pregame Show

Draymond Green, Joel Embiid Make Bizarre Appearances on Champions League Pregame Show

In one of the more bizarre crossovers in recent sports history, NBA stars Draymond Green and Joel Embiid were invited as guests on CBS Sports’ Champions League pregame show on Saturday afternoon.

Ahead of the Champions League final in Wembley between Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund, Philadelphia 76ers’ Joel Embiid joined the CBS Sports’ soccer crew of Jamie Carragher, Thierry Henry, Kate Abdo and Micah Richards to discuss the highly anticipated matchup.

Embiid and the crew got into a comical discussion about height, which led the 7’0’’ Philly big to stand up from his chair and tower over his fellow hosts. In response, Carragher climbed onto Richards’s shoulders to try to create a taller figure than Embiid.

What could be stranger than that sequence? Seeing Golden State Warriors’ Draymond Green and his son hop on the set.

Green has served as a recurring panelist on TNT’s Inside the NBA after the Golden State Warriors were eliminated from postseason contention, and his public criticism of certain players has not been without consequence. The Minnesota Timberwolves reportedly shunned the Inside the NBA crew following their Game 4 win over the Dallas Mavericks due to Green’s "derisive" comments on Rudy Gobert and Karl-Anthony Towns.

In Saturday’s Champions League final, Real Madrid are seeking their record-extending 15th trophy. Borussia Dortmund haven’t won the Champions League since the 1996-97 season and are widely considered the underdogs to Carlo Ancelotti’s side.

Donte DiVincenzo's Controversial Flop vs. Pacers Drew Strong Reaction From Joel Embiid

Donte DiVincenzo’s Controversial Flop vs. Pacers Drew Strong Reaction From Joel Embiid

The New York Knicks benefitted from a controversial call late into the fourth quarter during Game 1 against the Indiana Pacers, as officials determined that Myles Turner set an illegal screen on Donte DiVincenzo with 12 seconds left on the game clock.

DiVincenzo sold the contact with Turner, flopping massively as he hit the deck with his arms flailing. Officials didn't seem to think it was a flop, however, and despite a Pacers' coaches challenge, the ruling of an illegal screen stood following a review.

The controversial call from the officials, as well as DiVincenzo's stunning acting job, prompted a bold one-word response from Joel Embiid, who shared his thoughts on the situation on X.

DiVincenzo may have successfully sold the contact and fooled the referees, but it seems Embiid wasn't quite so easily tricked, and he couldn't help but have a laugh after the game-changing sequence in Game 1.

Of course, Embiid and the Philadelphia 76ers were bounced in the first round of the playoffs by New York, though that didn't dissuade the 30-year-old from weighing in on the situation.

The Knicks escaped Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals in wild fashion, thanks to some sloppy play down the stretch from Indiana and a crucial ruling from officials on Turner's moving screen, one which it seems Embiid could barely believe.

SI:AM | Knicks-Sixers Was Everything a Playoff Series Should Be 

SI:AM | Knicks-Sixers Was Everything a Playoff Series Should Be 

Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. I got so worked up during the fourth quarter of Knicks-Sixers that I had to turn up my air conditioning. 

In today’s SI:AM: 
🗽 The Knicks win a classic
🏈 Too many NFL games? 
🐦 The Orioles’ fatal flaw

What a series

One point. That’s all there was to separate the New York Knicks and Philadelphia 76ers after a thrilling six-game series that ended with New York’s series-clinching victory Thursday night. The Knicks scored 650 points in the series. The Sixers scored 649. 

This series had everything. It had spectacular individual performances, like Joel Embiid’s 50-point game, Tyrese Maxey’s 46 and Jalen Brunson’s four straight games with at least 39 points. (The last player to score 39 in four straight playoff games? Michael Jordan.) It had electrifying finishes, like Maxey’s clutch shot-making in Game 5. It had local animosity as the two nearby rivals met in the postseason for the first time in 35 years and Knicks fans invaded Philadelphia

Game 6 might have been the best of the series. When the Knicks jumped out to a 33–11 lead in the first quarter, they seemed poised to cruise to victory. But then the Sixers came storming back and, after 17 second-quarter points by Buddy Hield, took a 54–51 lead into halftime. Hield was the most unlikely of heroes. He hadn’t played in either of the previous two games after scoring just two points in limited action in the first three games of the series. He knocked down five of his seven three-point attempts in the quarter and out-scored the entire Knicks team by himself. 

Hield’s incendiary quarter made it a new game, and by the middle of the third quarter the Sixers managed to stretch their lead to 10. But the Knicks didn’t blink and with a 22–12 run over the final six minutes of the third were able to tie the game at 83. That led to a back-and-forth fourth quarter that featured four ties and three lead changes. 

To borrow a word from Knicks announcer Walt Frazier, Brunson was the catalyst in the fourth. He had 14 points in the quarter, twice as many as any other Knicks player, and scored or assisted on eight of the team’s 13 made field goals. It was just the latest in a series of superstar performances from Brunson, who has cemented himself this season among the game’s elite players. He finished the game with 41 points on 13-of-27 shooting and also added 12 assists.

But the beauty of this Knicks team is that, while Brunson undeniably leads the way, they have a solid backbone of role players who are equally crucial to their success. In Game 6 it was Brunson’s former Villanova teammates Josh Hart and Donte DiVincenzo. Hart had 16 points, 14 rebounds and seven assists, and DiVincenzo had 23 points, seven assists, three blocks and two steals. DiVincenzo played all 48 minutes of the game and was tasked with being the primary defender on Maxey. After Maxey torched the Knicks for 46 points in Game 5, he managed just 17 on 6-of-18 shooting Thursday. 

The Sixers posed a more difficult challenge for the Knicks than a 7-seed usually does for a 2-seed. That’s because Philadelphia was forced to play without Embiid for much of the season and thus its record did not accurately reflect the quality of the team when at full strength, which it was in the postseason after Embiid (although hobbled at times by his knee injury) was able to return. Either of these two teams could have reasonably expected to reach at least the conference finals, so it’s a shame that one of them had to be sent packing so early. No matter which team won the series, it would have been crushing for the loser to exit in the first round. But the quality of both teams made for one of the best first-round series in recent memory. 

The best of Sports Illustrated

The top five…

… plays from the fourth quarter of Knicks-Sixers: 
5. Buddy Hield’s off-ball movement to get open for a three early in the quarter. 
4. Jalen Brunson’s assist to a wide-open Mitchell Robinson. 
3. Josh Hart’s go-ahead three with 24 seconds left. 
2. Brunson’s body control on a jumper with three defenders surrounding him. 
1. OG Anunoby’s dunk in Joel Embiid’s face. 

Knicks Fans Ruthlessly Trolled Joel Embiid While Leaving 76ers’ Arena

Knicks Fans Ruthlessly Trolled Joel Embiid While Leaving 76ers’ Arena

The New York Knicks eliminated the Philadelphia 76ers from the NBA playoffs Thursday night, scoring a 118-115 win in Game 6 to take the first round series 4-2. The Knicks fans who made the trek to Philadelphia for the game were not shy afterwards, unleashing a "f--- Embiid" chant as they made their way to the exits.

Video of the incident is below, but be warned it contains some bad language.

Embiid faced accusations of being a dirty player during this heated series. In Game 3, he was assessed a Flagrant 1 foul for an incident involving Knicks center Mitchell Robinson. During an awkward sequence, Embiid fell to the ground attempting to draw a foul. When the whistle didn't blow, he grabbed Robinson's right leg out from under him. Robinson eventually left the game with an ankle injury. New York guard Donte DiVincenzo called the play dirty, and Knicks fans were irate.

During the Sixers' 112-106 overtime win in Game 5, Embiid hit Knicks' star Jalen Brunson in the head on a late drive. He was called for Flagrant 1 for unnecessary contact to the face. After those two incidents, Knicks fans will almost certainly regard him as a dirty player for the rest of his career, hence the post-Game 6 chant.

Embiid was excellent in the series, averaging 33.0 points, 10.8 rebounds, 5.7 assists, 1.5 blocks and 1.2 steals in 41.5 minutes per game. He dropped 50 points in that Game 3 win, had 34 in Game 2 and 39 in Game 6. It was an incredible performance in a losing effort by the 2023 NBA MVP. But no one will recall those numbers. Instead, they'll remember the two flagrant fouls.

The Knicks-Sixers series was competitive, contentious and incredibly entertaining. It was exactly what you'd expect from a budding NBA rivalry. That made the victory even more sweet for Knicks fans, who let their feelings for Embiid be known after the series was won.

If the Sixers Are Tyrese Maxey's Team Now, That's a Good Thing

If the Sixers Are Tyrese Maxey’s Team Now, That’s a Good Thing

Tyrese Maxey saved the Philadelphia 76ers' season on Tuesday night as he went off for 46 points and made an unbelievable 34-foot bomb in the final seconds of regulation to facilitate five more minutes instead of another early elimination. It was the greatest performance of his life and a coming-out party of sorts, although basketball fans are more than familiar with his potential and ability to carry a team on his back while hot.

The series now shifts back to Philadelphia where the locals will be louder and more enthused as they try to force a do-or-die Game 7 back at Madison Square Garden.

Maxey is now averaging 32.4 points per game in the battle with New York and has been thoroughly efficient, shooting 50.0 percent from the field. And the Sixers needed a second star to emerge more than ever in Game 5 as Joel Embiid struggled mightily. Despite collecting a triple double, the big man looked once again like the weight of the world was on a broken body, turning the ball over an unsustainable 10 times and not exactly rising to the moment.

All of this led Dan Patrick, among others, to conclude that this is Maxey's team now.

Which ... maybe. Maybe it is considering all that Embiid is fighting through. It's kind of amazing that the Sixers can rely on him to even be out there but it's also worth wondering if they can reasonably expect him to carry the heaviest of loads.

Discussions about the future Hall of Fame center's legacy will persist. That discourse will be much louder if Philadelphia is unable to overcome this 3-1 deficit but it won't go away if he's largely a passenger on a bus still running in the playoffs.

The thing is, though, is that this is just fine for the Sixers. Maxey's emergence is literally the best thing that could have happened to them. A franchise that has been processing for so long shouldn't care how they finally get the desired results. A winning team is a winning team if it's Embiid's team or Maxey's team or, hey, even Tobias Harris's team.

What this ultimately means for Embiid's legacy or whatever specious subjective metric people want to use can be sorted out later. Getting two wins from whichever players want to deliver them is far more pressing.

Joel Embiid Had Surprising Take on Knicks Fans After 76ers' Game 5 Win

Joel Embiid Had Surprising Take on Knicks Fans After 76ers’ Game 5 Win

The Philadelphia 76ers went into Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night and beat the New York Knicks in thrilling fashion, 112-106, in overtime to save their season and force a Game 6 back in Philadelphia on Thursday night.

While Tyrese Maxey was the hero for the 76ers with his big play down the stretch and his long three-pointer that forced overtime, Joel Embiid had another solid performance, going for 19 points and 16 rebounds in 48 minutes of action while still not being at full strength.

Embiid was asked after the game if he enjoys playing the villain against the Knicks and he gave a bit of a surprising answer, saying New York City is his favorite city in the world and he doesn't mind Knicks fans, even when they yell a NSFW chant about him.

Embiid and the Sixers would love to return to New York for a Game 7, but first they must take care of business at home.

Game 6 is Thursday night at 9 p.m. ET in Philadelphia.

Josh Hart's Pregame Caffeine and Candy Consumption Not Appreciated By Team Nutritionist

Josh Hart’s Pregame Caffeine and Candy Consumption Not Appreciated By Team Nutritionist

Josh Hart has endeared himself to New York Knicks fans, players and coaches thanks to a willingness to do whatever he can to help the team win. He averaged 33 minutes per game during the regular season and is logging nearly 45 minutes a night during the team's series against the Philadelphia 76ers. In those minutes he's averaging 16.8 points and 12.8 rebounds per game, which is especially impressive when you consider Joel Embiid leads Philly with 9.0 rebounds per contest.

So how does Hart do it? How does he keep his engine humming while playing Tom Thibodeau minutes on the biggest stage? Why, he does what any normal person would do and loads up on candy and caffeine before games. Much to the chagrin of the team nutritionist.

People want to focus on Hart getting into arguments with the team nutritionist, but "I’m like let’s get ready to run around," is the kind of motivational phrase that deserves to be stitched on a throw pillow.

Hart's love of Mike and Ike has become a story of its own during the postseason. After a clip of him discovering some leftover candy in his pocket went viral, he revealed how much he loved the candy and how he hoped to have his picture on the box someday. That day was yesterday, as it turned out.

There's clearly a blueprint for celebrities to get an unlimited supply of whatever they like, but there's just something endearing about a professional athlete becoming so synonymous with a candy that a partnership becomes inevitable. Someone making tens of millions of dollars a year getting a lifetime supply of $2 boxes of candy shouldn't seem so heartwarming, but when it happens organically, it's actually kind of charming.

Now let's get ready to run around.