76ers’ big man Joel Embiid feels that Lakers’ LeBron James should have been ejected from last night’s game, per ESPN. In a thrilling matchup, the 76ers ended up defeating the Lakers, 107-106.
During the third quarter, Embiied was pushed by James and ended up on the floor. He landed on his back:
“First of all, I mean, you look at it, that’s a very dangerous play,” Embiid said. “I guarantee you that if it was me, I would have probably been ejected from the game, which has happened in the past with me getting flagrant fouls really for nothing.”
According to Tim Bontemps of ESPN, James was only given a flagrant 1 foul and was allowed to finish the game. A minute later, Embiid picked up a flagrant 1 for an elbow at Anthony Davis which caused even more frustration for him. He doesn’t feel as though the foul was a necessary call:
“When you compare that to the one that I got, which I thought I didn’t really hit him, I didn’t elbow him,” Embiid said, per ESPN. “I might have touched him, but I don’t think it deserved the flagrant if you’re gonna compare those two.
“Those are tough plays, and I just thought, you know, it should’ve been a flagrant 2.”
Although Embiid was able to finish the game, he felt as though his back limited his ability to compete. He had missed Monday’s game against the Pistons due to back-tightness.
“It’s on me,” Embiid said. “I missed a couple 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 the way I’ve been doing in fourth quarters. I missed a couple shots, we made a couple mistakes on defense, they made a few 3s, and just like that they were up one.”
Despite last night’s mishaps, Embiied finished with a solid stat line consisting of 28 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 blocked shots.
