Dray and Embiid Talk Trash on Podcast
Draymond Green recently had Philadelphia 76ers center and MVP candidate Joel Embiid on his podcast, “The Draymond Green Show” to talk hoops. Embiid is one of a few current players that Green has had on his cast, but he was certainly a unique guest given their competitive spirits. Green and Embiid had a few minutes where they shifted topics to a little trash-talk.
Per the clip, the conversation mostly referred to Embiid’s offensive game and how he has a tendency to draw doubles. The talk stemmed from the hope that the Sixers and Warriors could meet in the NBA Finals, which is looking like a real possibility given that the Sixers are still winning games despite relative underperformance from Embiid and perennial playoff-choker James Harden.
Green went on to point out how often the Sixers blitz the pick and roll against Steph Curry, which most teams have a tendency to do. Now that Draymond’s back in the lineup, of course, this makes that strategy on offense a lot less potent.
This trash-talk session brings up an interesting conversation: How do the Warriors and Sixers match up in a potential 7 game series? The Warriors are used to dealing with James Harden, having bounced him from the playoffs multiple years in a row when he was on the Rockets. The Warriors have historically been solid against Embiid as well, mostly because of Draymond Green ironically enough. The Sixers run a PnR and iso-heavy offense, which the Warriors tend to have an easier time against.
There’s also the issue of how the Sixers are going to guard a Poole-Thompson-Curry trifecta. With so many weapons and a lack of defensive personnel to really shut them down, the Sixers would likely have a hard time dealing with everything Golden State can throw at them. The series would probably be over in 5 or 6 if Harden or Embiid has a game where they just go off, but the Warriors’ disciplined defense and hectic offense would end up overwhelming them.
The Dubs played the Sixers twice this season and split the series, although both came before the James Harden trade so it would be harder to actually gauge the matchup. It’s hard to get a good outlook, but based on the matchup potential, it looks like Golden State would take it.
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