Joel Embiid appears to be on a mission to punish the NBA's elite centers this season.
Two days after he dominated the Indiana Pacers' Myles Turner, saying afterward he's used to doing so, Embiid put up 40 points and 19 rebounds Wednesday in the Philadelphia 76ers' overtime win against the Utah Jazz and Rudy Gobert.
"This year I want to destroy everything in my path," Embiid said following Wednesday's contest, according to Kyle Neubeck of the Philly Voice.
Embiid took issue with an observation made by the Philadelphia Inquirer's Keith Pompey, who noted how many games the big man has missed this season against other top centers.
"According to him I'm scared of them, and I'm scared of top centers," Embiid told reporters. "As we saw tonight, it looks like I was very, very scared of them. So yeah, keep talking."
Gobert was held to 12 points on 4-of-10 shooting.
Embiid has discussed his rivalry with Gobert before, saying in December that the Jazz star shouldn't have been named to the All-NBA team over himself last season.
The Sixers big man said one of his goals this season is to win Defensive Player of the Year, an award Gobert has won twice.
