Joel Embiid labelled Jared Dudley "a nobody" as tempers flared between the Philadelphia 76ers and Brooklyn Nets in the NBA playoffs.

Dudley was ejected after shoving Embiid in the third quarter of the 76ers' 112-108 Game-4 win in the Eastern Conference first-round series.

After the incident, Embiid was asked about Dudley and he was not complimentary of the Nets veteran on Saturday.

"First of all, he's a nobody," Embiid told TNT. "And when opponents try to do stuff like that, that's just to get us out of the game, I'm too valuable to my team, that's why I didn't react."

Sixers All-Star Embiid – who helped Philadelphia take a 3-1 series lead with 31 points and 16 rebounds – did not try to respond to Dudley's shove and he explained why after.

"In that type of situation I just have to stay composed and be mature and let it go," he said. "Because my team-mates need me more than [his teammates] need him, so I've just got to be mature."

Embiid may not have reacted but Jimmy Butler certainly did as he shoved Dudley right after he made contact with the former in Brooklyn.

It resulted in a scuffle that extended out into the crowd as officials tried to get things under control.

Dudley started a small feud with the 76ers when he said Ben Simmons was just average in the half-court before Game 3.

Simmons did not take kindly to that first addressing the comments by saying, "It's coming from Jared Dudley, come on," and then following that up with a statement game in which he scored a playoff career-high 31 points in a Game 3-win in Brooklyn.

Butler got involved with the war of words as well after that game saying Simmons was far from just average.