In the third quarter of a 107-106 win for the Philadelphia 76ers over the Los Angeles Lakers, things got a little chippy and Philadelphia fans had to hold their breath when Joel Embiid hit the floor hard.
He was pushed by Lakers star LeBron James while in the air and he fell hard on his back that has been giving him trouble lately. Embiid missed Monday’s loss to the Detroit Pistons due to the back problems and due to the nature of the foul, one could make the case that James should have been ejected.
He did push Embiid while he was in the air and that could have caused a serious injury.
“Iou look at it, that’s a very dangerous play,” said Embiid. “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.”
On the other end, Embiid was then called for a flagrant 1 foul after he hit Anthony Davis in the face on a drive. It looked like it was a basketball play as he was just driving to the basket, but the officials did not see it that way. James’ play was more dangerous than Embiid’s.
“When you compare that to the one that I got which I thought I didn’t really hit him,” Embiid explained. “I didn’t really elbow him, I might have touched him but I don’t think it was a flagrant. If you can compare those two. Those are tough plays and I just thought it should have been a flagrant 2.”
Joel Embiid on LeBron James flagrant foul
“That was a very dangerous play. I guarantee if it was me I would have been thrown out of the game”
Joel is hoping back is ok
pic.twitter.com/dhP3GjJS9D— John Clark (@JClarkNBCS) January 28, 2021
As far as his back is concerned, he and the team will have to play it by ear. They hit the road to face the Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday.
“Hopefully, it’s fine,” said the big fella. “The test will be when I wake up in the morning to see how it feels. I’m glad I pushed through and we got the win.”
The team does have an off day on Thursday to allow him a day of rest.
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