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“I Took That Personal”: As MVP Battle Intensifies, 6x All-Star Joel Embiid Forces Warriors Ace Draymond Green to Walk Back on His Word

Published 03/25/2023, 6:10 AM EDT

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The Golden State Warriors probably had the biggest win of their season as they defeated the red-hot Philadelphia 76ers in their latest matchup. Even after a strong performance from 76ers star Joel Embiid, the Warriors were too much for Philadelphia to handle. A game that seemed to be in the bag for the 76ers was put out of reach after a strong comeback by Golden State in the fourth quarter. However, the game wasn’t without its drama between Draymond Green and Joel Embiid.

The 76ers came into this matchup as the winners of 9 of their previous 10 games. And they clearly meant business as they controlled the game for the first three quarters. Down by 12 entering the fourth, the Warriors managed to flip the switch and win the game by eight points. And a lot of that credit should go to the rising Warriors’ star, Jordan Poole.

Draymond Green takes back his words

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Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson did what they do best for the Warriors. However, it was Jordan Poole who became the deciding factor for this game against the Philadelphia 76ers and the ever-dominant, Joel Embiid. The 6x NBA All-Star’s performance was so good that it forced Draymond Green to change his opinion.

USA Today via Reuters

During the post-game interview, Draymond Green took back his words while talking about Joel Embiid. Apparently, Joel Embiid didn’t like him calling Nikola Jokic the hardest guy to guard in the league.

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Green said, “With a guy like that, you never really wanna give him a steady diet of anything because they just figure it out. He told me, he said, ‘you know why I played like that tonight? You said Joker was the hardest person to guard in the league. So, I took that personal.’ So I wanna tell y’all Joel’s the hardest guy to guard in the league.”

Embiid, the leader in the MVP race, went off against the Warriors. However, that wasn’t enough for the 76ers to take down Golden State as they got a huge amount of help from their bench.

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Joel Embiid could not push the 76ers past the Warriors

Jordan Poole ended the night being the highest scorer for Golden State, notching up 33 points while coming off the bench. Poole seemed to be locked in from the floor, shooting 10-19 from the field and 6-11 from beyond the arc.

Even though Joel Embiid scored 46 points for the game, Poole’s 19-point scoring outburst in the fourth quarter sealed the fate of the game. Philadelphia surely did miss James Harden as he was ruled out of the game against Golden State.

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The Golden State Warriors managed to get the last laugh. Though, Green now knows better than to not give Embiid the fuel to go off the way he did in this game.

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Written by:

Abhishek Dhariwal

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Abhishek Dhariwal is an NBA writer for EssentiallySports. He earned his bachelor's degree in English Honors from St. Xavier's College and his master's degree in Journalism and Mass Communication from AAFT School of Mass Communication and Journalism.
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Edited by:

Pragya Vashisth