Joel Embiid, Karl-Anthony Towns Beef in Viral NSFW Posts Resurfaces Before Knicks vs. 76ers Series

The Philadelphia 76ers shocked the Boston Celtics by overcoming a 3-1 deficit in their first-round series and advancing in the playoffs with Saturday's Game 7 win, which set up a showdown with the New York Knicks.

It also set up a showdown between Joel Embiid and Karl-Anthony Towns, which is notable for more than just their respective talent.

After all, they got into quite a scuffle in October 2019 when Towns was with the Minnesota Timberwolves, which led to suspensions for each:

Both players also took to social media in the aftermath of the fight in NSFW posts that have since resurfaced given the looming second-round matchup:

It should be noted that fight was more than six years ago, and they have since played each other without such a notable on-court incident.

But this will also be their first playoff matchup against each other since Towns was in the Western Conference for the majority of his career before he joined the Knicks for the 2024-25 campaign.

While New York advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals in his first season with the team, it did not play against Embiid and the 76ers along the way.

Embiid's post notably said "pretty please make the playoffs before you talk. It's a known thing that I OWN YOU" while tagging Towns. That alone means the comments and head-to-head matchup will be a major storyline for the series, even if the respective players have potentially moved on over the time that has unfolded.

New York will have home-court advantage and is likely even a bit surprised it will be playing the 76ers instead of the Celtics considering Boston was the No. 2 seed with a commanding 3-1 lead in the first-round series.

76ers-Celtics Highlights

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But Embiid's dominance in Saturday's Game 7, which came after he missed the first three contests of the series, helped propel the 76ers. He finished with 34 points, 12 rebounds and six assists while shooting 12-of-26 from the field.

Tyrese Maxey was also excellent with 30 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists on 11-of-18 shooting.

Whichever pair of stars with Embiid and Maxey on one side and Jalen Brunson and Towns on the other side plays better could ultimately determine the series outcome. 

And it could also determine which big man gets bragging rights in the next social-media post.