NBA stars Joel Embiid and Karl-Anthony Towns suspended 2 games after brawl
Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid and Timberwolves big man Karl-Anthony Towns were both suspended two games on following their fight at the Wells Fargo Center, the NBA announced Friday. Both players will begin serving their suspensions on Saturday, November 2.
The stars were "suspended two games without pay for their roles in an on-court altercation and for their continued escalation following the incident," the league said in a statement.
The NBA stars continued their beef online Thursday morning, bickering on social media. "Great team win!!! I was raised around lions and a cat pulled on me tonight lmao," Embiid wrote on Twitter.
Towns, who's nickname is "KAT," responded with photos of him fighting Embiid and one snapshot of the star crying after losing in the playoffs against the Toronto Raptors. He captioned it, "I aIN't nO B***** RaiSeD ARoUnD LiOnS," on Instagram.
However, Embiid clapped back, taking aim at the former rookie of the year and one-time All-Star's lack of playoff experience. "Imagine talking about a 20 points loss. You hate to see it lmao. Go ahead using that pic of me caring about losing in the second round OF THE PLAYOFFS. Oh wait you never been there."
"Don't get it twisted I OWN YOU," he added.
During the third quarter of 76ers' 117-95 win on Wednesday, Embiid and Towns began pushing each other on court before the incident took a violent turn. Towns then threw a punch and missed, and then put Embiid in a headlock. Embiid managed to take Towns to the ground, where he jammed his thumb into Towns' eye.
Both benches cleared to stop the players from fighting. 76ers point guard Ben Simmons entered the brawl and appeared to put Towns in a chokehold. Officials ejected Embiid and Towns from the game after they ruled the altercation a fight.