Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid said he believed Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James should have been charged with a blatant level two foul and dismissed from the Sixersr’s 107-106 win over the Los Angeles Lakers. Defending champions Wednesday night.
“Well, first of all, I mean look at it, it’s a very dangerous game,” Embiid said of James’ mistake, which came in at 5:44 in the third quarter. “I guarantee you that if it had been me I probably would have been thrown out of the game, which has happened in the past when I was really blatantly polluted for nothing.”
While Embiid was upset that James only got a blatant one, which allowed him to stay in the game, he was equally upset by being called up 68 seconds later for a blatant foul for an elbow against Anthony Davis that Embiid He didn’t think that he deserved that punishment.
“If you compare that to the one I got, which I thought I didn’t really hit, I didn’t hit it,” said Embiid, who had 28 points, six rebounds, four assists and two blocked shots in 38 minutes. . ‘I could have touched him. But I don’t think he deserved it blatantly, if you’re going to compare the two.
“Those are difficult parts and I thought, you know, it should have been a blatant 2.”
For his part, the Sixers coach, Doc Rivers, a product of a different sports era with a bit more physical play than today, he said he didn’t think either game should have been considered blatant at all.
His only concern at the time was that Embiid, who fell several feet on his back and squirmed to the ground in pain, was fine after a fall. And although Embiid didn’t move very well after the game, he managed to stay in the game and help the Sixers win.
“First of all, LeBron is not a dirty player,” said Rivers. “It was just a physical game and they had to call it blatant I guess.
‘You know, all the blatant comments tonight … you can put on a blatant easy these days. But that fall was difficult, and there was certainly some concern. Obviously, the fact that Joel went on wasn’t the same after that, in terms of his move. And we kind of knew it and that’s why we used it a lot on pick and rolls.
Embiid, who was recently intermittent in the injury report with back pain that kept him out for a few games, said he won’t know how he will react until after he wakes up in the morning, but he felt it. restricted him during the game.
He said part of the Philadelphia collapse, with the Lakers scoring 13 points in a row to go and erase the Sixers’ 12-point lead by three minutes and take a 106-105 lead with 11.2 seconds to go. part of his limited back. your movement.
“It’s up to me,” Embiid said of the Philadelphia crash in the late game. “I missed a few 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 dominate like I’ve done in the last quarters. I missed a few. shots, we made a few mistakes defensively, they made a pair of 3 and so it was 1. “
But just when it seemed as if the ongoing questions about the Sixers and their inability to finish the trajectory would haunt Philadelphia again, the Sixers were saved by a great shot from Tobias Harris, who confidently took a pass and dribbled towards him. elbowed against Lakers guard Alex Caruso and rose to bury what turned out to be the winning jump shot with 3.0 seconds to go.
“I’m a person who visualizes myself in those places, so when the opportunity presented itself … that’s an opportunity that I work on over and over, but in those moments I just have enough confidence to let it go and get it right to find the result.
“He did well tonight.”
It was a shot that also enabled the Sixers to laugh at those late game weaknesses, a piece that nearly ruined an incredibly impressive performance by the hosts in the first 45 minutes against the defending NBA champions, one that Harris said that he saw his team. as a measure of the adversary they faced.
“I would say a little bit about 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 whether he was getting frustrated with it. Philadelphia’s sloppy late game. “I would say there is always growth in everything. So tonight’s win is a great win for us against a great team, but at the same time we know we could be better, especially in the fourth quarter.”