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Joel Embiid of the Philadelphia 76ers had a productive but challenging night against the visiting Golden State Warriors on Monday. He almost had a triple-double, but nothing came easy for the All-Star center. He had 28 points, 13 rebounds and 8 assists while shooting only 38% from the field.
Meanwhile, the defensive anchor for the Warriors, Draymond Green, had a great game defensively. It might not show in his stats as he only had two steals and no blocks, but Green was everywhere. When ClutchPoints asked Embiid about the defense of Draymond Green, he showered him with praise.
“He’s a great defender. There’s nothing I can take away from that. He’s a great one-on-one defender. He’s a good team defender. You know he’s very smart,” Embiid said.
The MVP candidate Embiid received constant pressure from Green and the Warriors defensively. He was playing without starters Tobias Harris and Ben Simmons, which made life more difficult. This led to Embiid having to carry an even more significant workload.
Green, who recently claimed to be the best defender ever, had his fair share of covering Embiid throughout the game. Embiid didn’t feel Green actually guarded him.
“There was one time, they actually guarded me one-on-one, and that’s when he got his fifth foul. So, there’s a lot of guys that can get a lot of credit. You know when you’re going to send double teams every single time. You know when someone has the ball. It doesn’t matter how good a defender you are,” said Embiid.
Although Joel Embiid respects Green as an elite defender for the Warriors, he clearly believes Green couldn’t guard him one-on-one. Since this is likely the last time the two will face each other this season, we will have to wait until next year to see this matchup again.
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