A jam-packed day of NBA action kicked off Christmas morning with the Philadelphia Sixers paying the New York Knicks a visit at Madison Square Garden. While neither team is dominating the league by any stretch, it was still an opportunity for America to see two of the league’s hottest rising stars go toe-to-toe.
Sure enough, Joel Embiid and Kristaps Porzingis have not disappointed so far. While the game is a close affair between these two Eastern Conference rivals, the dual big men have spent much of the day preventing the other team from scoring by holding their own block party.
Embiid currently has three on the day, including one that is sure to be a SportsCenter Top 10 highlight.
Joel Embiid came out of nowhere for the #SCtop10 block. pic.twitter.com/TNX07v4j5b
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) December 25, 2017
Meanwhile, Kristaps has four blocks so far as he continues to dominate the paint for New York.
It’s a Christmas block party: Both Kristaps Porzingis and Joel Embiid have three blocks at halftime pic.twitter.com/W2gbJhlNcw
— The Ringer (@ringer) December 25, 2017
KP REJECTS THE PROCESS
(Via @clippittv) pic.twitter.com/wqs0Ysquup
— The Knicks Wall (@TheKnicksWall) December 25, 2017
And as was bound to happen, worlds collided in the third quarter when Porzingis did some serious “get the heck outta here” blockage on Embiid’s floater.
Worlds colliding pic.twitter.com/Dk1cBjEl00
— The Ringer (@ringer) December 25, 2017
And here’s their meeting at regular speed.
#NBA 🏀 Kristaps Porzingis defense block ❌🚫😱💪
Joel Embiid #HereTheyCome vs #Knicks #NBAXmas 25-12-17 pic.twitter.com/h2192L1vLJ— _Alexis Bullen_ (@alexis_bullen) December 25, 2017
While there’s certainly been a lot of rejection today, Embiid did take some time to show appreciation for the ghosts of free throw’s past, which was appreciated on Christmas.
Joel Embiid gives some love to the free throw line ghosts of Christmas past pic.twitter.com/GlsX9sy2UG
— Def Pen Hoops (@DefPenHoops) December 25, 2017