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Tim BontempsESPN
Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid said he believed Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James should have gotten a glaring level 2 foul and kicked out of Philadelphia’s 107-106 victory over the defending champions on Wednesday night.
“Well, first of all, I mean you look at it, that’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 was me I would probably have been kicked out of the game, which has happened in the past where I got blatant fouls for nothing.”
While Embiid was annoyed that James only got a blatant foul – which allowed him to stay in the game – he was equally bothered by being called up 68 seconds later for a blatant elbow foul against Anthony Davis that Embiid didn’t believe he that deserved punishment.
“If you compare that to the one I got, which I thought I didn’t really hit, I didn’t give him an elbow,” said Embiid, who had 28 points, six rebounds, four assists and two blocked shots in 38 minutes. . ‘I might have touched him. But I don’t think it deserved the blatant, if you’re going to compare the two.
“Those are difficult parts and I just thought, you know, it should have been a blatant 2.”
For his part, Sixers coach Doc Rivers, a product from a different era of the sport with just a little more physical play than today’s game, said he didn’t think either game didn’t stand out at all.
His only concern at this point was that Embiid, who fell several feet on his back and squirmed to the ground in pain, was okay 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 flagrants tonight … you can get a blatant easy these days. But that fall was difficult, and there was certainly some concern. The fact that Joel went on was clearly not the same after that in terms of his movement. And we knew that a bit and that’s why we used it a lot in pick and rolls. “
Embiid, who has been on the injury report from time to time with a sore back lately, keeping him out of a game or two, said he won’t know how it reacts until after he wakes up in the morning, but he felt it during limit the game.
He said part of Philadelphia’s collapse along the trajectory, with the Lakers scoring 13 straight points to clear the 12-point Sixers lead with three minutes to go and take a 106-105 lead with 11.2 seconds to go, was in part because of his back limitation. his movement.
“It’s up to me,” Embiid said of the Philadelphia late game slide. “I missed a few shots. I just didn’t have the legs. Not because I was tired, which I wasn’t, but my back just didn’t allow me to dominate like I did in the fourth quarter. I missed a few shots,” we made a few mistakes in defense, they made a pair of threes, and just like that they were 1. “
But just when it seemed as if the ongoing questions about the Sixers and their inability to close the track would haunt Philadelphia again, the Sixers were saved by a great shot from Tobias Harris, who confidently took a pass, dribbled to the elbow against Lakers guard Alex Caruso and rose to bury what turned out to be the game-winning jumper with 3.0 seconds to go.
“I’m a person that I visualize myself in those places, so when the opportunity arose … that’s an opportunity that I’ll be working over and over again, but at those moments just being confident enough to let it go and be okay with the result.
“It went well tonight.”
It was a shot that also enabled the Sixers to laugh off those late game weaknesses, a piece that almost ruined an incredibly impressive performance by the hosts in the first 45 minutes against the NBA defending champion, one of Harris that his team was watching. as a measure of the opponent they faced.
“I would say a bit of both,” said Harris, who finished with 22 points, when asked if he would focus more on being happy hitting the match winner or frustrated by Philadelphia’s sloppy play. late. “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 can get better, especially in the fourth quarter.”