Marcus Smart blasts Joel Embiid after scuffle / News - Basketnews.com

Marcus Smart blasted Joel Embiid after their altercation during the game, claiming he "could have cracked Embiid's head open".

Credit: USA TODAY Sports-Scanpix Credit USA TODAY Sports-Scanpix

After theBoston Celticswin against thePhiladelphia 76ers,Marcus Smartreacted to his altercation withJoel Embiid.

Player of the Game EFF 40 Jayson Tatum Points 35 Accuracy 13-20 Rebounds 12 Assists 4

The reigning defensive player of the year briefly explained what happened on the court.

"Went for a rebound. Basketball play," Smart said. "Went for the steal. Basketball play. Referee blows his whistle, calls a foul. I stop playing, my arm's still stuck in there, and he tries to break it. And then I'm the only one who gets a tech. Everybody saw it."

Smart and Jaylen Brown exchanged words with Embiid after the sequence and had to be separated by teammates and officials.

After a video review, the call on the floor stood of a personal foul on Smart and a technical foul.

"I don't have to keep talking about it," Smart said. "If I did that, I'm probably ejected, suspended three games, four games, fined. But the fact that I was the only one that got, I guess, something out of that is kind of beyond me. Especially defending DPOY, and that's how he gets treated. It's tough."

Even though Smart was whistled for a technical foul in the exchange, he was happy not to escalate the issue as he had in past seasons.

"Like I said, it's maturity," Smart said. "I could have cracked his head open, but I didn't. And that's the maturity we have. So we move on from it. It is what it is. And we control what we can control."

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