Joel Embiid Kicks A Fan In The Face And Nerlens Noel Gets Benched

That’s how you know that the Sixers faithful loves Embiid. He Falcon Kicks some suit in the front row right in the face and the city just falls deeper in love with him. It’s a wonder that guy’s neck didn’t snap off like a Pez dispenser when all 276 pounds of Embiid came raining down on him. Embiid put up a career high 33 points last night, nailing threes and playing stout defense en route to a win over the Nets. And despite his foray into the crowd, he was able to stay healthy.

The dude is so fun to watch play. From wipping behind the back passes that barely work, to falling down on give-and-go’s, just to get up in time to finish the play, he makes basketball a joy to behold. As he saunters back to the bench at every stoppage, it always seems like he has his teammates cracking up. Even that malcontent Nerlens Noel. Here are Embiid’s complete highlights from last night.

Meanwhile, Nerlens is poutier that ever. He got pissed about playing 8 minutes on his road back to recovery, in a statement which will eventually be remembered as the nail in the coffin for his playing days in Philly.

Brett Brown took the comments very seriously, removing Nerlens from the rotation altogether. He now finds himself not only behind Embiid for frontcourt minutes, but also Jahlil Okafor, Dario Saric, Ersan Ilyasova, and Richaun Holmes, not to mention Ben Simmons when he gets back. The Sixers surely want to trade Noel as much as he wants to get traded, but his appetite for sour grapes precludes any trade from being possible. If only he could pretend to be good teammate for a second, maybe a team would actually want him, instead of making it impossible for Bryan Colangelo to get even a half-decent return.

Yeah, sure buddy. I mean, it would be a better defensive pairing than Okafor and Embiid, but so would Embiid and the little white guy who guarded him during his summer workouts. Nerlens Noel, for as historic as his rookie season was, is not long for the Red, White and Blue.

Meanwhile, Ben Simmons checked in with a good look last night.