Joel Embiid has owned Karl-Anthony Towns for a decade and now he gets to do it in the playoffs
Joel Embiid and Karl-Anthony Towns have been going at each other since they entered the league over a decade ago. Trash talk. Social media wars. A literal fistfight on an NBA court. An entire decade of personal animosity between two franchise centers who have made it very clear that they cannot stand each other.
The one thing they’ve never done is settle it in the playoffs. That changes this week.
The Sixers and Knicks are matched up in the second round and the Embiid-KAT rivalry is finally getting the stage it has deserved for years. When the Knicks beat the Sixers in the first round back in 2024, Towns was still in Minnesota getting bounced in the Western Conference. Now he’s the starting center in New York and he’s about to spend a best-of-seven series trying to guard a man who has been publicly humiliating him since 2018.
Good luck with that, Karl.
The History Is Deep
The rivalry kicked into another gear during the 2018-19 season when Jimmy Butler joined the Sixers after one miserable year in Minnesota. Butler spent his exit torching the Timberwolves’ young core, Towns included, and Embiid was more than happy to pile on every time the Sixers faced Minnesota after that.
On October 30, 2019, it boiled over on the court. Embiid and Towns tangled up, wrestled each other to the floor, and both benches cleared. Ben Simmons came in and put Towns in a headlock. Both Embiid and Towns were ejected. Classic NBA theater.
Joel Embiid and Karl-Anthony Towns fight, get ejected in Timberwolves vs. 76ers
The next day, Embiid went on X and left absolutely nothing to the imagination. He called Towns a pussy in all caps, told him his tough guy act wasn’t cutting it, said he’s been kicking his ass, and told him to make the playoffs before he talks.
“It’s a known thing that I OWN YOU.” Those were the exact words from a sitting NBA MVP candidate directed at another franchise center on a public social media platform. That’s the level of personal animosity between these two.
Joel Embiid bodies KAT on Twitter:
Towns responded by posting photos of Embiid crying after a playoff loss with the caption “All Bark & No Bite.”
Decent comeback. Would have been better if Towns had ever actually beaten Embiid in a meaningful game, which he hadn’t then and hasn’t since.
Embiid Owns This Matchup
Sixers vs. Knicks: Second round schedule and why this series is going to be war >>
Embiid Owns This Matchup and Everyone Knows It
The head-to-head history between these two has been embarrassingly one-sided. Embiid has dominated Towns in virtually every meaningful regular season meeting. He’s bigger, more physical, meaner in the post, and plays with an edge against Towns that borders on personal vendetta.
When Embiid sees Towns on the other side of the floor, something switches on inside him. It’s like watching a predator spot prey. He goes right at him every single time and Towns has never had a consistent answer for it.
Towns is a skilled offensive player and one of the best shooting big men the league has ever seen. I’m not denying that. But there’s a reason Embiid called him out by name and told the entire world he owns him.
…because he does.
The regular season evidence is overwhelming and the fact that they’ve never met in the playoffs until now means Towns has never had the chance to rewrite the narrative. He’s walking into this series with a decade of L’s against Embiid hanging over his head.
Can Towns find a different approach with Brunson running the show and a deeper supporting cast around him? Maybe. He doesn’t have to be the best player on his team anymore.
He just has to hold his own against Embiid and let Brunson carry the offense. But “holding your own” against a guy who just led a 3-1 comeback against the Celtics while playing three weeks removed from surgery is a tall order for someone who has historically wilted every time Embiid turns up the intensity.
I know what version of Embiid is showing up for this series. The question is whether Towns has anything new to show us or whether the last 10 years were the preview for what’s about to happen on the biggest stage.
Don’t Let Them Take the Building Again
Embiid already sent the message. Don’t sell your tickets. Don’t let the Knicks fans turn Xfinity Mobile Arena into Madison Square Garden East like they did in 2024. That was a disgrace. Half the lower bowl was blue and orange for a home playoff game and the Sixers lost two games in their own building partly because the crowd was against them.
The Knicks are betting favorites. They went 53-29 with home-court advantage. They have depth, physicality, and Brunson running the show. The Sixers are underdogs again. Nobody cares. Nobody picked the Sixers to beat Boston either and they came back from 3-1 to win in seven games.
Embiid has waited a decade to get Towns in a playoff series. He’s been talking about this since 2019. He publicly called the man a pussy and said he owns him. Now he finally gets to prove it when it actually counts.
I’ve seen what happens when Joel Embiid takes a matchup personally. The Celtics saw it too. Towns is about to find out.
Join The Chase
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