The Los Angeles Lakers have one of the team's most prominent matchups of the entire 2023-24 season on Monday night as the team is on the road to take on Joel Embiid and the Philadelphia 76ers.
Philadelphia is playing far better than many pundits expected after the James Harden fiasco as Embiid is once again playing at an MVP level while Tyrese Maxey has stepped up his game. This is going to be a star-studded matchup that takes NBA fans back in the time machine to when big men dominated the sport as Embiid is going to be going toe-to-toe with Anthony Davis.
Davis outplayed Embiid the last time these two teams squared off but the 76ers still came away with a win. The basketball world is going to be tuning in to watch these two going at it and other big men on the 76ers roster are trying to make themselves relevant for the showdown as well.
Ahead of Monday's game, 76ers role player Paul Reed was asked about the keys to matching up against Davis (even though he isn't going to be doing much of that). Reed took the chance to take a shot at Davis with his answer, calling him a "big flopper".
“He’s a big flopper, so make sure that I don’t get in foul trouble early. Can’t be too aggressive with him. You know, he’s gonna be flailing. So, gotta make sure that I stay out of foul trouble.” - Paul Reed on the keys to matching up with Anthony Davis pic.twitter.com/NzTXQsePix
— Austin Krell (@NBAKrell) November 27, 2023
Paul Reed is irrelevant to Anthony Davis and the Lakers
Reed should be careful in poking the bear as the Los Angeles Lakers have made a habit out of embarrassing role players who decide to take a shot at a star player. The last thing Reed should be doing is upsetting Davis and giving him more bulletin board material to have a big game.
The most ironic part about this is the fact that Reed probably won't even be guarding Davis much in this game. Sure, there will be some overlap, but the entire story of this game is AD vs Embiid. Nobody cares about the backup center who is averaging 13 minutes per game this season.
Reporters should have asked Reed what his game plan is against Jaxson Hayes or Christian Wood because he will probably have more time guarding them than Davis. Davis and the Lakers have bigger fish to fry and Reed is just trying to make himself seem relevant in this star-studded matchup.
Only bad things can come out of this for Reed and the 76ers. This could elevate AD's game and lead the Lakers to victory. On the other hand, if Reed plays well, nobody is even going to notice because the story will be focused on Embiid and Davis, not him.