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Wednesday’s Hot Clicks: Andre Drummond Thinks Joel Embiid’s Flop Only Deserved an Emmy Award

Drummond got ejected after Embiid’s acting job, and the war of words continued after the game. 
Dan Gartland|
Wednesday’s Hot Clicks: Andre Drummond Thinks Joel Embiid’s Flop Only Deserved an Emmy Award
Wednesday’s Hot Clicks: Andre Drummond Thinks Joel Embiid’s Flop Only Deserved an Emmy Award

Andre Drummond did not appreciate Joel Embiid’s acting job

The Sixers and Pistons played a thriller in Detroit last night, and it almost hinged on a theatrical performance from Joel Embiid. 

In the closing seconds of the fourth quarter, with the game tied, Embiid made a layup to give Philadelphia the lead. After the basket, Andre Drummond’s hand touched Embiid’s face and Embiid reacted as though he’d been tased. 

Drummond got tossed from the game, but Detroit was able to seize the win in overtime with Zaza Pachulia at center. 

After the game, Embiid, who scored 33 points, came out swinging with some trash talk and said he feels like he knows how to get under Drummond’s skin. 

“His hand touched my face, and you know, going back, what the referees were saying the whole game, there were a lot of cheap shots taken,” Embiid told reporters. “At one point, I think [referee] Tyler [Ford] said that the next cheap shot, the next one is going to get a technical foul, and that’s why he got the other technical foul.

“All I was doing was just talking and playing basketball and trying to win the game, and obviously on the second one, you can see that he hit me, and his hand actually touched his face. ... But like I said, I feel like I own a lot of real estate in his head.”

Drummond didn’t talk to the media after the game but he did offer a critique of Embiid’s acting performance on Twitter, saying it wasn’t even worth an Oscar. 

Later, in an Instagram comment, Drummond called Embiid “fat” and “outta shape.”

Drummond and Embiid’s beef actually goes back to last season, when Embiid said Drummond “doesn’t play defense” and “can’t shoot.” Luckily, they’ll face each other three more times this season, beginning a week from Saturday in Philadelphia. With any luck we’ll see them go toe-to-toe in the playoffs, too. 

Red Sox take Game 1

Boston jumped on Clayton Kershaw quickly and Eduardo Nuñez hit a clutch pinch-hit homer off of Alex Wood to put the game out of reach in the seventh as Boston took a 1–0 lead in the World Series. Game 2 is tonight at 8 p.m. ET, with David Price facing Hyun-jin Ryu. 

Oh yeah, and this happened. 

Oh, you thought the Rondo-CP3 beef was over?

Rajon Rondo told ESPN that he didn’t spit on Chris Paul during their fight on Saturday night. He was wearing a mouthguard that made it difficult to control his saliva, he claimed. 

And that wasn’t all. Rondo totally buried Paul. 

"Of course, the NBA went with his side because I got three games and he got two," Rondo told ESPN. "Everyone wants to believe Chris Paul is a good guy. They don't know he's a horrible teammate. They don't know how he treats people. Look at what he did last year when he was in L.A.; trying to get to the Clippers' locker room. They don't want to believe he's capable of taunting and igniting an incident.

"... He comes out and says I spit and the media sides with that."

Here’s what Rockets GM Daryl Morey had to say about that:

But former players around the league are taking Rondo’s side. 

Bits & Pieces

The details of Broncos backup QB Chad Kelly’s trespassing arrest sound really bad. ... A Washington man known as the “Piggyback Bandit” has struck again, this time in Alabama. ... Grantland actually ran a long feature about the Piggyback Bandit in 2009. ... A Wisconsin brewery is making a beer that tastes like candy corn but isn’t made with any actual candy corn. ... The New York Timesrepublished its covered of the 1916 World Series (the last time the Red Sox and Dodgers played) and it’s a delight. ... Marijuana is legal in Canada but South Koreans aren’t allowed to partake. 

Simply an unreal goal by Sidney Crosby

Blake Griffin went for 50

The Pistons beat the Sixers and Blake Griffin showed why Detroit traded for him last season.

Buy this if you have World Series fever (and a few hundred thousand dollars laying around)

An original game program from Game 7 of the 1903 World Series between the Boston Americans (Red Sox) and Pittsburg Pirates (they spelled it without the “H” back then) was recently discovered and goes up for auction next week. Its estimated value is $150,000 to $250,000.

The high value isn’t because this was the clinching game, though. The 1903 World Series—the first ever World Series—was a nine-game series. Boston won in eight games. 

Paul Pierce is opening a vape company

(Non-prescription CBD might be a total scam, though!)

Watch this tonight

American fans rarely get to see Canadian hockey teams on national TV, so you really should take advantage of this rare broadcast. The Leafs and Jets—led by two of the best young players in the NHL—play tonight at 7 p.m. ET. You can watch the first period and probably most of the second before the baseball game starts, then flip back and forth. 

You know what to do. It’s for a good cause.

I’ve never seen such a rollercoaster of a newspaper caption

Pure heat from the T-Wolves

I. Don’t. Know. You.

Check out the icy stare from Holtby here

This video is not sped up

At least 20 people were injured—one of whom had his foot amputated—when an escalator malfunctioned in a metro station before a Champions League game in Rome. 

This is apparently the first time The Killers performed “Mr. Brightside”

And it’s terrible. 

A good song

Email dan.gartland@simail.com with any feedback or follow me on Twitter for approximately one half-decent baseball joke per week. Bookmark this page to see previous editions of Hot Clicks and find the newest edition every day. By popular request I’ve made a Spotify playlist of the music featured here. Visit our Extra Mustard page throughout each day for more offbeat sports stories.

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Dan Gartland
DAN GARTLAND

Dan Gartland writes Sports Illustrated’s flagship daily newsletter, SI:AM, and is the host of the “Stadium Wonders” video series. He joined the SI staff in 2014, having previously been published on Deadspin and Slate. Gartland, a graduate of Fordham University, is a former Sports Jeopardy! champion (Season 1, Episode 5).

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