Tiki Barber and Hugh Douglas are clashing like they’re back on the gridiron.
Douglas, a former Eagles defensive end, lambasted Barber, an ex-Giants running back, for telling 76ers center Joel Embiid to “stop being bitch” regarding the injuries that ultimately sidelined him for Game 2.
“To say that this man is a bitch is real disrespectful. That is punch-in-the-face worthy. That’s come down to the studio and slap your bitch ass across the face,” Douglas said Wednesday on WIP ahead of the Knicks’ 108-102 win. “You disrespected the code in a sense. The one thing I try never to do, is disrespect a professional athlete because it’s a brotherhood, even though it’s not the sport that I play.”
Philadelphia fans have never liked Barber and he did little to help the situation when he went after Embiid for how he’s handling the inuries he dealing with.
Embiid doubled over after being hit in the stomach by Mikal Bridges during Knicks’ 137-98 bludgeoning in Game 1 on Monday night, and later said he didn’t appreciate the play.
The big man underwent surgery for appendicitis in April, but returned to guide this postseason run.
“I guess I got to protect it more, I don’t know if it was dirty or not,” Embiid said. “I don’t think that was necessary … it was kind of after the play.”
Barber, though, took an old-school approach to analyzing Embiid’s handling of the injury and mentioning his frustration, recalling an injury from his Giants tenure from 1997-2006.
“If it was that bad, then don’t play. If it’s gonna hurt you, to physically be hurt and someone might run into you, accidentally or otherwise, don’t play,” Barber said Tuesday.
“I remember when I had a broken arm when I played in 2000? I had to tape my other arm because they were literally stepping on my arm because they knew I had a broken arm. I didn’t complain about it. It’s part of the risk of playing when you’re hurt. So, stop being a bitch. Seriously.”
Barber added that it surprised him that Embiid would voice his frustrations.
“You’ve been an elite athlete for a long time. You play hurt, you have to, especially when it means something to you,” Barber said. “You don’t complain about it. You just don’t. Because if you do, it’s like, ‘Give me sympathy. The reason I was not great is because your sympathy is making me feel better.
“That’s just weak. I don’t love that because I didn’t think that about him. That’s just really weird. that’s like a crime against sports honor.”
Douglas, who played for the Jets form 1995-97 and then spent six years with the Eagles (1998-2002, plus 2004) said Barber missed the mark with his analogy.
“He’s ours. We talk about family, don’t nobody else talk about family. And when you call him out his name like that, that’s when I get a little bit upset. You’re comparing a broken arm to surgery that he came back from weeks early to play for his team and he’s dropping 30,” Douglas said. “That’s real disrespectful and you should apologize to him. I know for a fact if you went out there with a broken arm, you had a cast on. It’s not like you had your naked ass arm out there playing. You had some form of protection.”
Douglas, who said he would not take personal shots at Barber, then went after the WFAN host for joining the “Kinky Boots” cast in 2019.
“You talk about a bitch move, to wear some red pumps for … ‘Kinky Boots,’ Douglas said.
“You had on some red ‘Kinky Boots,’ come on, dog, you can’t do that, you can’t disrespect the folks down here in Philly like that, with all due respect.”
Embiid did not play in Game 2 due to what the 76ers labeled as hip and ankle injuries, and the 76ers will need him back in Game 3 when the series shifts to Philadelphia with the team in a 2-0 series hole.
