Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid said he believed Los Angeles Lakers star Lebron James should have been penalized with a flagrant level two foul and sent off for a Sixersr 107- victory. 106 over defending champions Wednesday night.
“Well, first of all, I mean look at it, it’s a very dangerous play,” Embiid said of James ’absence, which occurred in the 05:44 mark of the third quarter. “I guarantee them that if it had been me, I would probably have been kicked out of the game, which has happened in the past when I received flagrant fouls for really nothing.”
While Embiid was upset because James was only given a flagrant, which allowed him to stay in the game, he was equally upset that, 68 seconds later, he was called up for a flagrant foul by an elbow to Anthony. Davis that Embiid did not believe deserved this punishment.
“When you compare that to what I got, I thought I didn’t really hit him, I didn’t give him an elbow,” said Embiid, who scored 28 points, six rebounds, four assists and two blocked shots in 38 minutes. “I could have touched it. But I don’t think it deserves the blatant, if you’re going to compare those two.
“These are tough plays and I thought, you know, it should have been a blatant 2.”
For his part, the Sixers coach, Rius Doc, A product of an era different from the sport that featured a little more physical play than today, he said he didn’t think either play should have been considered flagrant at all.
His only concern at this time was that Embiid, who had fallen several feet on his back and was writhing on the ground in pain, was fine after falling. And although Embiid didn’t move as well after the play, he managed to stay in the game and help the Sixers win.
“First of all, LeBron is not a dirty player,” Rivers said. “It was just a physical play and they had to call it blatant, I guess.
“You know, all the blatants tonight … you can get a blatant easy these days. But that fall was hard, and there was some concern there for sure. The fact that Joel continued, clearly wasn’t the same. after that, in terms of its movement. and we knew it a little bit and we use it a lot in pick and rolls because of that. “
Embiid, who has been on the intermittent injury report recently with a back pain, which has kept him out of a game or two, said he won’t know how to respond until after he wakes up in the morning, but that he felt it limited him during the game.
He said part of Philadelphia’s collapse in the final straight, which saw the Lakers score 13 points in a row to erase the Sixers ’12-point lead with three minutes to go and take a 106-105 lead with 11.2 seconds remaining, it was due in part to his back limitation. their movement.
“It’s up to me,” Embiid said of the fall of the late Philadelphia game. “I missed a couple of shots. I just didn’t have my legs. Not because I was tired, which I wasn’t, but my back just didn’t allow me to master the way I’ve done it in the last few quarters. I missed a couple of shots, we made a couple of mistakes on the defensive, they made a few triples, and so were 1. “
But just when it looked like ongoing questions about the Sixers and their inability to close the stretch would torment Philadelphia once again, the Sixers were rescued by a great shot from Tobias Harris, who confidently took a pass, dribble. elbow against Lakers escort Alex Caruso and stood up to bury what turned out to be the winning jump shot with 3.0 seconds to play.
“I’m a person who visualizes me in these places, so when the opportunity came … this is an opportunity I work on over and over again, but right now I just have the confidence to let it go and be okay with the result.
“Tonight, he was fine.”
It was a shot that also allowed the Sixers to laugh at these end-of-game weaknesses, a stretch that almost ruined what had been an incredibly impressive performance from the hosts for the first 45 minutes against the defending NBA champions. , one that Harris said his team saw. as a measuring stick given the opponent they faced.
“I would say a little bit of both,” said Harris, who finished with 22 points, when asked if he would focus more on being happy to have scored the winning goal or feeling frustrated by the careless late play. of Philadelphia. “I would say there’s always growth in everything. So tonight’s win is a big win for us against a great team, but at the same time we know we could be better, especially in the last quarter. “.