Boston Celtics e Philadelphia 76ers set the tone for an intense opening night.
Two of the teams accredited for the top spots in the Eastern Conference battled it out right from the start, in a clash that looks like it could become a rivalry historical.
Near brawl on the field when Marcus Smart went on to contend for a rebound at Joel Embiid, who restrained his opponent\’s arm with his own. A scrum ensued, into which Jaylen Brown immediately jumped, and the referees awarded a technical to Smart to restore calm.
The post-match statements certainly did not dampen spirits; on the contrary, they were further fuel on a fire that is sure to be stoked in upcoming confrontations.
The harshest was Marcus Smart himself.
I made a play trying to recover a rebound, the referees whistled me a foul and Embiid jammed my arm, trying to break it, everybody saw it. If I had done something like that I would have been ejected and would have received a suspension or a fine. I don\’t understand how it is possible that I was the only one who received a technical. How can the defender of the year be given this treatment? I could have split his head open. But I didn\’t, we are a mature team.
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Jaylen Brown, after rewriting Celtics history with Jyason Tatum, has stepped up his game.
Embiid got away with a lot of shoving that didn\’t do any good, we\’re not going to take crap like that this year.
Finally Grant Williams who called the referee call \”a FIFA whistle,\” referring to the soccer video game.
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