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Draymond Green might want to stop giving his opponents bulletin-board material.
Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid scored 46 points in Friday’s game against Green and the Golden State Warriors on an efficient 13-of-23 from the field. Following the game, Green said Embiid told him he was motivated after hearing Green praise rival Nikola Jokić as being harder to guard.
Anthony Slater @anthonyVslater
Joel Embiid had 46 points against Warriors tonight.<br><br>Draymond Green: “He said, ‘You know why I played like that tonight? You said Joker was the hardest person to guard in the league. I took that personal.'” <a href=”https://t.co/Rd8a2eXTyo”>pic.twitter.com/Rd8a2eXTyo</a>
It was enough for Green to walk back his previous comments.
“I want to tell y’all, Joel is the hardest guy in the league,” the veteran joked after the game.
Jokić won the NBA MVP in each of the last two years, with Embiid finishing second both times. The two star centers are once again considered the top two contenders for the award in 2022-23.
Golden State earned the 120-112 win over Philadelphia on Friday, although Embiid continued to make his case as the league’s best player while improving his league-leading scoring average to 33.4 points per game.
Opponents might want to avoid giving him extra motivation in the future.
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