Joel Embiid delivered an all-time press conference after Wednesday night’s win, which included a call out of two local journalists.

Actually, only one is a journalist. The other is a radio blowhard.

But the ire directed toward Keith Pompey and Howard Eskin seems to stem from some sort of assertion that Embiid was dodging a Rudy Gobert matchup, or was afraid to go up against Utah’s center.

I clipped the full quote for your viewing pleasure, and included the question from Ky Carlin, because it adds context and helps understand Embiid’s answer:

“According to Keith Pompey I’m scared of (Gobert) and scared of top centers. As we saw tonight, it looked like I was very very scared of him (sarcasm), so keep talking.”

We reached out to Keith to see if he wants to respond, and/or explain what Embiid is talking about here. If we get something from him we’ll add it to the post, and update. I’m not sure what specifically Joel is referencing, and therefore can’t know if Keith was being fair, so Ill withhold judgment. I’ll keep looking for that.

Here’s the other quote, at the end of the answer:

“Hopefully that can clear that up with Keith Pompey and Howard Eskin. That’s his name, right? There you go.”

That’s pretty good. Howard Eskin. “The King.” Same guy who said Crossing Broad is “so insignificant” but does a two-hour weekend radio show these days and only pops up in the news cycle when saying or doing something stupid, like asking Gabe Kapler about coconut oil masturbation at his introductory press conference. Knowing Howard, what he said about Embiid was likely unfair, because he has an agenda against the Sixers (and every team that isn’t the Eagles).

Anyway, Embiid obviously didn’t like what they were saying about him, and he went out and dropped 40 and 19 on Rudy Gobert, so I guess that answers the question of whether he’s good enough to score on top centers.