Ty Lue gets back at Daryl Morey and the subject matter is not James Harden or Joel Embiid or even Basketball anymore.
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The Daryl Morey and Tyronn Lue‘s back and forth get better each passing day. Maybe it is erupting from the grudge that the latter held back since the day Sixers management – run by its President of Basketball operations, decided to go for Doc Rivers instead of him. Perhaps it’s not.
But it has everyone in the basketball community engaged. It all started after a Clippers-Sixers match last week, where James Harden and Joel Embiid posted game-highs of 29 and 27 points in a 122-97 thrashing of Lue’s team.
“Embiid is number one in the league from the free-throw line, and James is number three. So, I think it said if you take away their free throws, neither of those guys would be in the top 10 in scoring. So, that just tells you how much they’re getting to the free-throw line.” Ty Lue said before the beating he received at the hands of his predecessor Doc Rivers’ team.
Joel Embiid confronted Lue during the match itself and it didn’t look like the latter had much to say to him.
I asked Ty Lue what Joel Embiid said to him in this moment.
Joel said, “Oh, so I can’t score without free throws, huh?”
Ty Lue was initially confused, but later explained to Embiid his quote was taken out of context and what he meant. Embiid understood, says Ty. pic.twitter.com/KaLKP5A5ST
— Tomer Azarly (@TomerAzarly) March 28, 2022
And although all this did not irk Doc to jump into it, it did to Morey, who himself responded to the Clippers’ coach.
.@LAClippers offense would rank 30th without free throws
Say it with me again – players are fouled because the other team cannot stop them…
h/t r/sixers https://t.co/Mw9hNJLKbf— Daryl MorΞy 🗽🏀 (@dmorey) March 26, 2022
Tye Lue forgets James Harden and Joel Embiid and recalls Daryl Morey’s Tweet which cost the NBA hundreds of Millions
Now Ty has clapped back at Morey taking the matter towards a geopolitical row instead of basketball.
“They took it out of context…. It don’t bug me. In response to Daryl Morey, should he really be tweeting anything? Last time he tweeted, he cost the NBA a billion dollars so I don’t think he should be doing too much tweeting. Worry about his own team.”
Ty Lue on Daryl Morey pic.twitter.com/8lmIundiC1
— Tomer Azarly (@TomerAzarly) March 28, 2022
Daryl Morey in October 2019, when he was in a similar position with the Rockets, sent out a Tweet supporting the protestors in Hong Kong at the beginning of China’s plan to overtake the country.
As China is NBA’s biggest consumer in the world, the Tweet was taken down quickly, the Rockets issued a statement distancing themselves from the sentiment, and the league was in full damage control mode.
James Harden and some other players also chipped in and praised the NBA’s relationship with China. The league also worked hard behind the scenes to repair its relationships with the nation.
But it didn’t work. The NBA lost sponsorships and deals in China, and the regular-season games were taken off state television in China. The Tweet cost the NBA around $400 million. Which is much less than half of Lue’s ‘Billion’ comment but still was a massive amount.
