It's sometimes hard to measure the impact of things like motivation or revenge in sports, but it seems pretty clear that Jimmy Butler and the Philadelphia 76ers used those emotions to perfection against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Tuesday night. Pouring in 83 points in the first half, the Sixers cruised to a 149-107 win in Butler's first game against his old team since the November trade.
And they kept up the pressure after the game as well. First Joel Embiid came through with a tweet making fun of the infamous preseason scrimmage in which Butler reportedly took the Timberwolves' third-stringers and made light work of the starters, all while shouting obscenities toward anyone in his way.
"It was an honor to be part of the 3rd stringers and get a win against real NBA starters," Embiid wrote in what has to be said is a pretty funny tweet. The big man can get a little corny on social media sometimes, but credit where credit is due: this one was good.
It was an honor to be part of the 3rd stringers and get a win against real NBA starters #TheProcess pic.twitter.com/uPw7F0WjLo
— Joel Embiid (@JoelEmbiid) January 16, 2019
Embiid posted the same image and caption on Instagram, and Butler commented with a bunch of crying laughing emojis to show he appreciated the effort from his teammate.
Jimmy in here too oof pic.twitter.com/2qFKshj2RG
— Rob Perez (@WorldWideWob) January 16, 2019
Butler then posted his own picture on IG, a shot of him staring down the Timberwolves' defense. "Looking right through the past.. to the future!" Butler captioned the photo.
If the complete destruction on the court didn't make it clear enough, the posts on social media after the game show what Butler thinks of his former squad.