It felt like nothing could go right for the Phoenix Suns in their Saturday night loss to the Philadelphia 76ers, though the icing on the cake was provided by Sixers center Joel Embiid.
Embiid’s 33 points led all scorers, though it was anything but his scoring that headlined conversations departing from Mortgage Matchup Arena.
Devin Booker & Joel Embiid exchange words. 👀🍿
— Hoop Central (@TheHoopCentral) February 8, 2026
The Suns — particularly Devin Booker and Dillon Brooks — were not fans of Embiid’s flopping (for lack of better words) on the court last night.
“I got into it a little bit [with him] at halftime. I told him he’s too good of a player to be flopping like that. But we have Olympic experience together, so that’s somebody I have high respect for, it’s just competition,” Booker said following the loss.
He and Embiid were assessed technical fouls for getting into it, even though Booker said the referee admitted he had no idea what either Booker or Embiid said to each other.
Absolutely disgusting hoops by Embiid. pic.twitter.com/Db2pAzrJUm
— Mike Vigil (@protectedpick) February 8, 2026
Brooks ended up switching to guard Embiid towards the end of action, where the Suns nearly erased a 19-point deficit before falling in 109-103 fashion. He told Suns reporters after the game he would’ve liked to pick up Embiid earlier:
“Maybe you got to start that earlier. I can guard the flopping and all that. I’m not going to lie, about 14 times. It’s a lot. Especially for stuff that’s not even shooting fouls. It’s a great crew of refs that were reffing the game for Philly tonight.”
Dillon Brooks on guarding Joel Embiid late in Suns loss: “Maybe start that earlier. I can guard the flopping and all that.”
Embiid 11-of-13 FTs.
“That’s a lot, especially for stuff that’s not even shooting fouls. It’s a great group of refs that were reffing the game for Philly… pic.twitter.com/AK7W2AhLGn
— Duane Rankin (@DuaneRankin) February 8, 2026
“Dillon will take anyone. He’ll take any matchup,” Suns coach Jordan Ott said after the game. “That’s a tough one. It’s giving away so much size overall, but he held his own. I thought Royce had a good stretch on him too. So just something we’re going to continue to add to our group, our defensive packages and our schemes.”
Starting Phoenix center Mark Williams didn’t dive into the flopping aspect of Embiid’s game, but did believe the Suns could have done a better job on him:
“Just trying to show him different looks, obviously trying to defend him without fouling. … We just didn’t do enough to get it done,” Williams said post-game (h/t Duane Rankin).
“He’s a talented player but I think we could’ve been a little bit more disruptive with his rhythm, especially early. I think myself in particular, I could’ve done a better job there.”
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