On Monday night before the Indiana Pacers took on the Memphis Grizzlies, a video of Pacers assistant coach Dan Burke went viral after he had a few choice words, in a respectful manner, about the Philadelphia 76ers.
Burke went on to say how much he “hates” playing against the Sixers and that Joel Embiid gets away with, in his words, “a lot of crap”. This comes after the Sixers knocked off the Pacers on Saturday behind a big night from Embiid and he went to the foul line 15 times.
Burke said in the video:
I hate that team. I really wanted to win that game. I think Embiid gets away with a lot of crap that the league ignores.
Pacers assistant coach Dan Burke is NOT a fan of Joel Embiid and the Sixers
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“I hate that team…I think Embiid gets away with a lot of crap..”pic.twitter.com/ycsCFqVwMI— Hoop Central (@TheHoopCentral) December 3, 2019
At the beginning of the season, coach Brett Brown wanted the Sixers to play bully ball due to their size and he loved hearing the comments from Burke. He took them as a compliment.
“Absolutely,” beamed Brown. “One of the questions that comes up from me to them is ‘What would you want them to say? What would it look like? Who are we?’ Whether it’s style of play, whether it’s character, whether it’s defense, whatever it is it is, it’s an interesting question to ask like ‘How do you want to be judged?’ What would you like to feature on a scout take?”
The Sixers are one of the bigger teams in the league and those types of comments are things that he loves hearing from other coaches around the league.
“I would bring him to my house for Christmas and he can share in the Christmas dinner,” Brown added with a laugh.
Now, what about the Embiid comments?
“He would not be able to have dessert because I don’t agree with him,” Brown decided. “He can still eat at the house, if it was offered as a compliment to bully ball and tough and physical, dinner. If he’s hitting Joel, no dessert. That’s how it works.”
The Sixers and the Pacer matchup again on December 31 in Indiana. [lawrence-related id=20542,20535,20518]