Big-man battles are back in the NBA. They may not look like the David Robinson and Patrick Ewing duels in the 1990s or Moses Malone posting up Kareem Abdul-Jabbar but excitement still comes out of them. The San Antonio Spurs are preparing to duke it out with the Philadelphia 76ers. A key matchup would be how Victor Wembanyama does when faced with Joel Embiid. Head coach Gregg Popovich has a plan to contain the MVP, via NBC Sports Philadelphia.

“We’re gonna hammer his ass! I told Wemby to stick him… back him down over the rim, and just throw him through the rim! That’s what you can look forward to tonight,” Gregg Popovich hilariously disclosed.

Victor Wembanyama sure has the skill set to do all of those against the 76ers star. After all, he is averaging 19.9 points with 10.1 rebounds while blocking 3.2 shots per contest. However, his minute restriction might keep him from containing Joel Embiid. The Spurs star only plays an average of 28.5 minutes per game which may not be enough to control any scoring outburst from the league's MVP.

More than just the time spent on the court, the Spurs' defensive schemes might have a headache. Embiid alone notches a clean 35 points on 53.6% field goal shooting. His ability to pass also gets his squad 5.9 assists while his aggressiveness in crashing the boards gets them 11.4 rebounds. Embiid just needs 34.2 minutes to dominate this matchup. However, the Spurs head coach might not allow any of that to happen because of how he is hyping up his young star.