On Saturday night, the Sixers blew a 24-point lead to the world champion Warriors. After the game, Kevin Durant revealed one of the main reasons Golden State was able to pull together to come back and win.
“We didn’t want to lose to these guys, especially Joel [Embiid],” Durant said. “He would’ve went straight to Twitter and talked s—,”
It’s true. Embiid has taken a Millennial’s perspective to the timeless art of trash talking. His knack for getting under the skin of his opponents or haters has proven to both be effective and enjoyable as hell. Here’s a look at five rules to follow when looking to mimic the brilliance of Embiid’s trash talk:
Use tons of humor
When Embiid went off for his incredible 46-point explosion with (all the trimmings) in Los Angeles, he couldn’t help but take a swipe at Lonzo Ball. If you remember, Embiid got in some trouble calling out Ball’s father Lavar before the season starter (more on that later). So the following tweet called attention to the rookie’s 1-for-9 shooting performance as he was a non factor in the Lakers’ loss.
WHAT A NIGHT #TheProcess pic.twitter.com/92q82Zzvzb
— Joel Embiid (@JoelEmbiid) November 16, 2017
Talk when you win, talk when you lose
Clearly, Embiid wasn’t happy with Saturday’s loss to Golden State. But that didn’t keep him from taking digs. Here’s a tweet from this weekend — referring to the Warriors blown 3-1 lead in the 2016 NBA Finals.
Now we know what it feels like to blow a big lead.. Gotta stay focused to get the job done. Great learning lesson and I also love playing against Draymond #TheProcess pic.twitter.com/hGGQN1SH73
— Joel Embiid (@JoelEmbiid) November 19, 2017
Green himself gave Embiid credit for his talk on and off the court, saying “Guys don’t play and talk no more, so somebody who loves that and embraces that, I enjoy it. So it’s been refreshing to me to see somebody like that.”
Don’t be afraid to act your age
One of the best parts of Embiid’s trash talk is he sounds his age. He’s a fun-loving 23-year-old kid and acts like it. He sounds just like a recent college grad would when ripping on his boys. After getting into it a bit with Miami’s Hassan Whiteside in a preseason game last month, Embiid didn’t mince words.
And keep caring about stats and not your team success….. your +/- was ass @youngwhiteside #Softy
— Joel Embiid (@JoelEmbiid) October 14, 2017
My bad y’all , I thought I was using my burner account #TheProcess
— Joel Embiid (@JoelEmbiid) October 14, 2017
On the court is better than off the court
Don’t know the name Willie Reed? Not many non-Clippers fans do but he’s a reserve center who had issues with Embiid recently. It’s okay, Embiid — in a post game interview — trolled Reed by saying he forgot his name as well.
If you didn’t see, Embiid got on Reed after he was called for traveling and he later was called for a flagrant foul against JoJo. The Sixers’ center made his free throwns while smiling at Reed on the bench. It was awesome.
Be sensational
Embiid, this on Instgram, said “F— Lavar Ball,” and was later fined by the NBA. Then he tweeted the following to his teammate Ben Simmons:
Please dunk on him so hard that his daddy runs on the court to save him.. https://t.co/cMvt5RYiSQ
— Joel Embiid (@JoelEmbiid) June 22, 2017
He also tried to troll President Donald Trump, trying to get a retweet for him as he rallied to get a fan vote into the 2017 NBA All-Star Game. Nothing is too outragious for Embiid’s trash talk machine.
