Sixers' Joel Embiid laughs off flailing accusation from Celtics' Marcus Smart: 'Come on'

Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid had a big night Wednesday, going for 42 points and 10 rebounds while leading the team to a 117-109 win over the Boston Celtics. He was unguardable at times, shooting 12-for-19 from the floor and getting to the foul line 21 times.

The high number of free-throw attempts bothered Celtics guard Marcus Smart, who called Embiid out for flailing his way to calls. The Celtics had 20 free-throw attempts as a team and were upset with the discrepancy.

Knowing Smart's reputation as a flopper, the accusation was surprising to Embiid.

"Marcus Smart just said I flail a lot? I mean, come on," Embiid said. "I'm sure he knows himself and he knows his game too. He does a lot of that, and I don't think I do."

Celtics center Daniel Theis had five fouls defending Embiid in the post as he used his body and skill to get easy buckets and get to the line.

"If you watch basketball and if you're a student of the game and you actually pay attention during the game, every single foul, I got fouled," Embiid continued. "They probably don't call all of them like the last one. When there was 10 minutes left and I went up and that was a foul and they knew it, but they didn't call it so there's a lot that they don't call, and there's a lot that they call because you have to. The game is physical."

Teams often send multiple defenders to deter Embiid, which is what Boston did on Wednesday, and Embiid is very good at drawing fouls.

"Other teams try to be extra physical against me," Embiid said. "I guess I'm just smarter than everybody else. I just take advantage of it. I just take advantage of how they're guarding me. You can call that, I don't know, basketball IQ. If you're gonna put your hand up there, I'm gonna take advantage of it and I'm gonna get to the free-throw line because I know that I'm a great free-throw shooter and that's a better chance for me to help the team win in those situations."

Embiid and the Sixers will tangle with Smart and the Celtics again on Friday.

Sixers Wire is part of the USA TODAY Sports Media Group.