The NBA has always been about player rivalries and whether we've realized it or not, there's an all-time great one unfolding right in front of our eyes.
When Giannis Antetokounmpo and Joel Embiid go head-to-head on Friday, two of the most dominant players in the sport will clash for the 13th time in their careers and the majority of those matchups have not let us down.
Antetokounmpo and Embiid are both unstoppable forces whose physicality can only be matched by a few players in the league aside from one another. With Antetokounmpo standing in at 7 feet, 242 pounds and Embiid coming in at 7 feet, 280 pounds, this heavyweight battle is the closest thing we'll get to a real-life Cleganebowl between The Mountain and The Hound.
Embiid is coming off of a season in which he became the first center to lead the NBA in scoring since Shaquille O'Neal in 1999-00, averaging 30.6 points per game en route to a second-place finish for league MVP.
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Antetokounmpo is only two years removed from being the third player in NBA history to win MVP and Defensive Player of the Year in the same season. Since taking home Finals MVP in 2021, he's widely considered to be the best player in the world today.
Neither player has skipped a beat this season, as Embiid just had of the best individual performances in the history of the sport and Antetokounmpo has been sleepwalking his way to 30 points and 10 rebounds a night.
Just a few days back, Embiid erupted for a career-high 59 points to go with 11 rebounds, eight assists and seven blocks. In doing so, he became the first player (since blocks were recorded in 1973) to tally at least 50 points, 10 rebounds, five assists and five blocks in a game.
MORE: How Embiid became 2022's Wilt Chamberlain
Before Antetokounmpo was dealing with some right knee soreness that caused him to sit out three of his last five games, the Bucks All-Star had rattled off six-consecutive 30-point games (two of which he scored 40-plus) and five double-double efforts.
And the best part? These two always bring out the best in each other.
Giannis vs. Embiid head-to-head stats
Looking at their head-to-head averages tells you all you need to know, but diving into the individual games is where you start to realize how special these battles truly are.
| FG% | PPG | RPG | APG | BPG | SPG | Record | |
| Antetokounmpo | 54.8 | 32.7 | 13.9 | 6.8 | 1.9 | 1.4 | 8-4 |
| Embiid | 42.4 | 26.8 | 12.0 | 5.0 | 1.7 | 0.9 | 4-8 |
Antetokounmpo has won five of the last six meetings against Embiid, including a victory on the Bucks' opening night of the 2022-23 season. And while that matchup wasn't exactly one to write home about for either player, most of their other recent showdowns certainly are.
In their final meeting last season, Embiid went for 29 points, 14 rebounds and seven assists but Antetokounmpo got the best of the Sixers big man, going for 40 points, 14 boards and one clutch game-winning block in the final seconds.
GIANNIS with the game-saving block on Embiid! 👀
— Ballislife.com (@Ballislife) March 30, 2022
40 Points
16/24 Shooting
14 Rebounds
6 Assists
3 Blocks
pic.twitter.com/6XONIH4VkG
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That was one of two meetings during the 2021-22 season, with Embiid's 42 points and 14 rebounds outlasting Antetokounmpo's 32 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists in a 76ers win in the other.
If we touched on all 12 of their matchups, you'd get bored pretty quickly because of how common it is for these two to drop 30-point double-doubles on each other.
But it's worth flashing back to 2019, because Antetokounmpo and Embiid had two of the most explosive one-on-one performances we've seen in recent years.
On March 17, 2019, Antetokounmpo had the best game of his career at the time, going for 52 points, 16 rebounds, seven assists, two steals and a block. And for as great as The Greek Freak was, it was Embiid's team that picked up the win, going for 40 points, 15 rebounds, six assists, three steals and a block.
Giannis Antetokounmpo (52 Pts & 16 Reb) & Joel Embiid (40 Pts & 15 Reb) had a duel for the ages today.
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) March 17, 2019
It was the 1st time opposing players had 40 points & 15 rebounds in a game since March 1966, when Walt Bellamy and Elgin Baylor did it (h/t @EliasSports). pic.twitter.com/xDAjQlHiBj
Less than a month later, on April 4, 2019, Antetokounmpo got revenge on his counterpart, going for 45 points, 13 rebounds, six assists and five blocks. The Bucks earned the win but it wasn't from a lack of production from Embiid, who recorded his second-career triple-double with 34 points, 13 rebounds and 13 assists to go with three blocks and two steals.
It's uncanny how frequently these two consistently stuff the stat sheet against each other — a clear sign of their competitive nature to elevate their games against the best talent in the world, trying to prove who is the best big man in the NBA today.
We've seen it before with some of the greatest players to ever play the game, like Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell, Hakeem Olajuwon and David Robinson, and Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett.
It's time we start putting Giannis Antetokounmpo and Joel Embiid in that group.
