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Marcus Smart Ejected for Shoving Joel Embiid in Philly

Big 12 on Big 12 crime here.

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Philadelphia beat Boston 118-115 on Wednesday evening at home, but Marcus Smart wasn’t around for the ending. Smart got the heave-ho in the third quarter after shoving Joel Embiid from behind following a little elbow to the ribs from Embiid to Smart.

“We needed him out there,” Celtics coach Brad Stevens told reporters. “Don’t get it wrong: We love all that Marcus is. And part of Marcus is his fire.

“As you know, a time or two a year it gets the best of him. But this is just a reminder of how important he is. He knows how we all feel and he knows we all love him. That’s just part of it. It’s part of a long season.”

Smart didn’t speak to reporters, but Embiid did!

“Obviously I was frustrated because it was a cheap shot,” he told reporters. “I didn’t see it coming. It caught me off guard. But, I mean, I really don’t want to talk about it. I don’t care.”

This is Smart’s second ejection of the season, which puts him T1 in the NBA with the following players (three of the seven, including Smart, are former Big 12 players).

Blake Griffin
Taj Gibson
Patrick Beverly
PJ Tucker
TJ Warren
Nikola Jokic

Another former Big 12 player, Kevin Durant, led the league in ejections last regular season. Smart is currently averaging 9 points, 3 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals a game. He’s having the first season since 2003 when John Stockton did it where a player averages those numbers in fewer than 28 minutes played per game.

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