PHILADELPHIA — Los Angeles Clippers coach Tyronn Lue and 76ers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey aren’t holding back in their war of words.
The two have had a back-and-forth over the last several days with Lue taking a swipe Monday night at Morey’s tweet from Oct. 4, 2019, as the Houston Rockets general manager. In the message, Morey supported protestors in favor of democracy in Hong Kong. It was a tweet that strained the NBA’s relationship with China and led to lost revenue for the league.
It all started Friday night when the Sixers beat the Clippers, 122-97, in Los Angeles. James Harden went 11 for 11 from the foul line and Joel Embiid finished 7 for 8. Lue was asked about their free-throw prowess before the game.
“Embiid is No. 1 in the league in free throws and James Harden is No. 3,” Lue said. “You take away their free throws and neither guy would be top 10 in scoring. So it just tells you how much they’re getting to the free-throw line.
“We just have to do a good job pulling our hands back, making sure we’re playing, not letting them get into the bonus and do the sweep-throughs. They’re going to get some calls because of who they are, but we just have to make sure we’re doing our part.”
Well, those comments didn’t sit well with Morey, who responded to an aggregation of the top part of the quote via a tweet Saturday night.
“[The Clippers] offense would rank 30th without free throws,” he tweeted. “Say it with me again — players are fouled because the other team cannot stop them …”
When asked about Morey’s tweet on Monday, Lue said Morey should stop tweeting.
“Should he really be tweeting anything right now?” Lue asked. “Last time he tweeted, he cost the NBA a billion dollars. So, I don’t think he should be doing too much tweeting. Just worry about his own team.”
