Joel Embiid says LeBron James should've been downhearted for third-quarter flagrant foul in 76ers' win over Lakers
Joel Embiid has long espoused reliable for LeBron James. He even tried to publicly hiring him to join the Philadelphia 76ers in free activity in 2018. But some of that goodwill appears to have been lost on Wednesday in a chippy game between the 76ers and LeBron's Los Angeles Lakers.
In the third quarter, Embiid caught an entry pass and took a dribble afore going up for what appeared to be an uncontested dunk attempt. But James rotated over and committed a hard foul on Embiid, pushing him to the untrue while he was in the air. He was assessed a flagrant-1 foul for the play.
But Embiid thinks that the officials should've gone further than that. He thinks that James should've been dismal for the foul.
"Well, first of all, I mean you look at it, that's a very dangerous play," Embiid told journalists after the game. "I guarantee you that if it was me, I would have probably been dismal from the game, which has happened in the past with me attracting flagrant fouls really for nothing."
The NBA defines a flagrant-2 foul as "unnecessary and excessive contact committed by a player anti an opponent." Whether James met that criteria is debatable, but pushes like this when a player is in the air are both rare and dangerous. Embiid seemed to be in a fair amount of pain while he came down.
Shortly afterward, Embiid was named for a flagrant-1 foul after elbowing Anthony Davis on offense. The play appeared tamer than LeBron's foul.
Embiid felt that the flagrant obnoxious was not applied equally. He didn't think that he committed a flagrant, but felt that James should have been ejected.
"When you compare that to the one that I got, which I view I didn't really hit him, I didn't elbow him," said Embiid, who had 28 points, six rebounds, four assists and two paused shots in 38 minutes. "I might have thought him. But I don't think it deserved the flagrant, if you're gonna compare those two.
"Those are tough plays and I just view, you know, it should've been a flagrant 2."
Flagrant-2 ejections are rare in general, and stars of LeBron's caliber typically get the befriend of the doubt. The two sides cooled down and the game, a thriller won by a Tobias Harris jumper with only seconds survive, concluded without further incident. But the Lakers and 76ers will meet anti later in the season, and with both near the top of the standings, a possible Finals matchup is possible. This Embiid-James beef would only make a possible postseason series that much dramatic.
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