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The Philadelphia 76ers scored the biggest win of a very good season on Wednesday, but the team had to hold their breath after one game in particular.
Sixers MVP contender Joel Embiid fell hard in the third quarter against the Los Angeles Lakers. The tall man jumped into the paint and was about to dunk when LeBron James pushed him into the midsection, landing him with much of his weight on his tailbone.
Embiid stayed on the ground for a few moments and could be seen walking cautiously, but managed to stay in the game. For his push, James was sentenced to a flagrant foul 1, which he could later be seen arguing with officials.
Embiid has had to deal with back problems this season, with Monday’s last game missing due to back strain.
The Sixers finally held their ground and won 107-106 thanks to a winner from Tobias Harris. Embiid had 28 points on 8 of 18 shots with six rebounds and four assists in 37 minutes.
After the game, Embiid didn’t seem very amused by James’ push, saying he would have been kicked out of the game if he had made the same game:
Embiid on the blatant LeBron: “You look at it, it’s a very dangerous game, and I guarantee you if it was me I probably would have been kicked out of the game.”
– Kyle Neubeck (@KyleNeubeck) January 28, 2021
In case you need a reminder, here are the NBA definitions for gross fouls, the latter of which features automatic ejection:
Flagrant penalty 1: unnecessary contact committed by a player against an opponent
Blatant foul penalty 2: unnecessary and excessive contact committed by a player against an opponent
Officials apparently deemed James’ push to be unnecessary, but not excessive in keeping the paint. Embiid seems to think differently.
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