Pot, Meet Kettle: Marcus Smart Is Upset About Flopping In the NBA

The 76ers won tonight against the Celtics in Doc Rivers first game on the other side of the rivalry. I’m not taking a well deserved victory lap because the C’s were down Jayson Tatum and the Sixers were without Seth Curry as well. Beat them four times, in a row, at full strength, in May, and then I’ll be happy.

But, that doesn’t mean we should be ignoring what’s shaping up to be a legitimate MVP campaign for Joel Embiid!

Joel Embiid tonight:

42 PTS
10 REB
12-19 FG
17-21 FT
1 TOV

There’s only one other instance where a Sixer had a 40/10 game on 1 (or fewer) turnover since the three-point era — Joel Embiid in 2019. pic.twitter.com/0TqDgVLHhP

— StatMuse (@statmuse) January 21, 2021

Not only are those stats impressive but he also attempted TWENTY-ONE free throws tonight. Everyone is impressed, except Marcus Smart…who thinks Embiid is succeeding by flopping. Marcus Smart thinks that. Marcus Smart thinks someone else is flopping.

Smart: "We got our hands up a lot of the times and (Embiid) flails and he gets the call. Meanwhile on the other end we attack and we don't get the whistles. It's tough playing like that."

— Jared Weiss (@JaredWeissNBA) January 21, 2021

The Boston Celtics committed over 40 fouls tonight but if you ask any of their players they did not commit a single one. It would be one thing if Embiid actually WAS flailing to the ground but there were multiple instances tonight where Daniel Theiss pulled out WWE wrestling moves to take down Embiid in the paint. There was one point where Kemba Walker and the rest of the Celtics were upset that a jump ball wasn’t called in a scrum with Embiid. Replay showed Tristan Thompson at no point had the ball, he had Joel Embiid’s entire arm. There are multiple instances of that which led to Embiid’s twenty-plus free throw attempts.

But, what really makes this laugh out loud funny is that MARCUS SMART is the one complaining about another player flopping! This is the same Marcus Smart who has been fined on multiple occasions for flopping himself.

MARCUS SMART is now worried about alleged flailing in the NBA?!