Detroit Pistons center Andre Drummond says trash talk is a routine part of NBA games.
But he said there wasn't any extra jabbering that led to Joel Embiid's dominance in Monday night's 97-86 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers at Little Caesars Arena.
"I talk (expletive) to everybody," Drummond said after Tuesday's practice. "That's just what I do. I don't say anything extra to anybody. I talk the same way to everybody _ whether you my friend or anybody else.
"I don't say anything extra because it's Joel Embiid. I don't need to do that. I just speak the way I speak. He felt some type of way, that's on him."
Embiid accused Drummond of trash talk, paving the way to 30 points and nine rebounds in Pistons' fans first look at the oft-injured big man.
"Defensively, he doesn't play any defense," Embiid told Philly.com after the game. "When we started the game, he was being aggressive and he was talking, too. ... So I was (thinking), 'You want to do that? I'm going to kick your (butt) then.' So that's what I did."
Drummond answered on Twitter, saying "See you Dec [sic] 2nd."
The two face each other next Dec. 2 at Philadelphia.
Drummond declined to add more fuel in the battle of words
He had a solid effort of 14 points, 14 rebounds and four steals, but he clearly was outplayed in the matchup of young centers with max contracts.
Despite his status, Monday marked only the 34th game of Embiid's career, and Drummond admitted it took a while to grow accustomed to the big man's inside-outside game and good ball-handling skills.
"He's been in the league four years now and he's only played about 30-plus games so you don't know what to expect when you play against a guy like that," Drummond said. "When you only see him on film, you don't really know what it's like to actually play him so that first half, it was tough for me to get adjusted to him, but the second half I think I did a good job on him."
Drummond takes the heat for Embiid, but Pistons coach Stan Van Gundy said the defensive performance was mixed from Drummond.
He noted Drummond did some good things, as Embiid committed seven turnovers. But the main culprit was poor help defense when Drummond moved to pick up another threat.
"He beat (Drummond) off the dribble and he had no help," Van Gundy said. "We opened up big gaps and we didn't have guys that were willing to get over there and help him on drives at all."
