By now, everybody knows about the orbital fracture suffered by Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid after he was elbowed in the face by Toronto Raptors star Pascal Siakam in Game 6 of their Round 1 series.
Embiid had just had a big dunk to put Philadelphia up 29 in the fourth quarter and he then pulled out the airplane celebration. The fans in Toronto didn’t like it and neither did the Raptors.
As Siakam made his move to the basket, he elbowed Embiid in the face and it was obvious that the big fella was in pain. He immediately left the game and the Sixers went on to eliminate the Raptors and move on to Round 2.
Siakam did end up apologizing to Embiid, per Justin Grasso of Sports Illustrated:
“Obviously, on the play [after], I feel bad — awful that I hit his face — but I was trying to make a move,” Siakam explained. “I apologized to him after that. You know, that was definitely not my intention.”
Embiid and Siakam are good friends. This was probably nothing more than two competitors going at it and Siakam just happened to hit Embiid in the face. At this point, it is unfortunate what happened, but it is clear that it was an accident.
This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire! Follow us on Facebook!
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