Despite a plethora of injury troubles, Joel Embiid put up 50 points in the Philadelphia 76ers’ 125-114 win against the New York Knicks to avoid going down 0-3 in the first-round series. While his heroics drew praise, Embiid also received flak for a flagrant foul on Knicks’ center Mitchell Robinson. The 76ers have been displaying a tough physical defense looking desperate to cruise through the first round. With around four minutes left in the first quarter, the 2023 MVP fell on the floor, while he was going for a field goal, and grabbed Robinson’s leg. In another instance, he kicked Robinson in his pelvic area but got away with it.
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Noting all this, New York Comedian Sam Morril had rather harsh words for the perennial MVP candidate. As per Morril, Embiid’s violations are akin to Draymond Green’s. While respecting his profile as a superstar, the Comedian downplayed Embiid’s attitude.
Morril stated that the 30-year-old doesn’t have a winner’s mentality unlike Giannis Antetokounmpo and Nikola Jokic. He interestingly described Embiid using Draymond Green’s example,
“I respect Joel Embiid’s talent and greatness as a player, but this is a disgrace. This is after he kicked Hartenstein in the balls. You don’t see Jokic or Giannis doing this bc this isn’t how winners conduct themselves. Embiid is Draymond with a jumper, zero rings and more crying,” Morril ripped into Joel Embiid.
Green has indeed been known to take shots at his opposition, especially during the game. Embiid’s kick to Robinson’s pelvic area was reminiscent of Green kicking Steven Adams similarly during the 2016 WCF Game 3. While the 2x scoring champion was stamped with a flagrant foul type 1 for grabbing Robinson’s leg, some NBA fans felt it wasn’t enough. Meanwhile, the 76ers Center defended his actions.
Joel Embiid justifies his actions
Knicks reporter Ian Begley alluded to Embiid’s comments on the Flagrant Type 1 violation. He said he was just trying to protect himself and avoid a Jonathan Kuminga-like situation. During the 76ers-Warriors’ regular season game in January, the Warriors forward had unintentionally crashed on Embiid’s knees while going for the loose ball.
Embiid clarified,
“Obviously we know the history that I have with (Jonathan) Kuminga landing on my knee. So I kind of had some flashbacks, when he came down to it. It was unfortunate. I didn’t mean to hurt anybody. I just … in those situations I gotta protect myself, because I’ve been in way too many situations where I’m always the recipient of the bad end of it,”
Evidently, the 76ers’ All-Star has been in a similar situation quite a few times because of his ceaseless knee injuries. It isn’t surprising if he is being too defensive. However, the play, where he caught Robinson’s ankle, could have seriously injured the Center. He has gone through multiple ankle injuries during the 2023-24 season and his surgically repaired area could have been severely injured. This is why Knicks’ Josh Hart, Isaiah Hartenstein, and Donte DiVincenzo called it a “dirty” play.
