The 5 best personal beefs from Heat-76ers Game 3

1. Justise Winslow vs. Joel Embiid

You have to give it to Justise Winslow: He knew the only way the Heat could stop Embiid on Thursday was by getting him off the court.

Four minutes into the second quarter, Embiid’s protective mask fell off as he battled with Olynyk for a rebound. Winslow then took matters into his own hands, deliberately stepping on the mask and seemingly attempting to pry the goggles out.

That forced Embiid to take a four-minute breather, as the Sixers’ training staff had to get him outfitted with another mask before he could go back in.

“Little do they know, I have about 50 of them,” Embiid told reporters after the game. “It’s going to take much more than that to get me out of this series. It’s going to be a nightmare for them, too.”

The Winslow-Embiid drama didn’t stop in the first half. Early in the fourth quarter, Embiid went up for a layup that would have put Philly up six, but Winslow met him at the rim and rejected his shot. On the ensuing possession, Embiid returned the favor, smacking a Winslow fadeaway right into his own hands.

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“It felt great,” Embiid said afterward in reference to that sequence. “When he blocked me, I didn’t really say [anything]. Good for him. I’m glad I got him back and kind of shut him up a little bit, because he was talking big-time when he did block me. You don’t really want to talk trash to me.”

If Game 3 set the tone for the remainder of this series, Saturday can’t get here quickly enough.