The Philadelphia 76ers won possibly the biggest win of a great season on Wednesday, but the team had to hold its breath after a particular play.
Sixers MVP contender Joel Embiid fell heavily in the third quarter against the Los Angeles Lakers. The big man jumped into the painting and was going up to bury when LeBron James pushed him in the middle, causing him to fall with a large part of his weight on his tailbone.
Embiid remained on the ground for a few moments and could be seen walking cautiously, but managed to stay in play. For his push, James received a blatant foul 1, which he could be seen arguing with officials.
Embiid has been dealing with back problems this season, most recently losing Monday’s game due to a tight back.
The Sixers finally held on and won 107-106 thanks to a Tobias Harris winner. Embiid scored 28 points from 8 of 18 shots, with six rebounds and four assists in 37 minutes.
After the game, Embiid didn’t look much amused by James’s push, saying that he would have been kicked out of the game if he made the same move:
Embiid in the flagrant LeBron: “See, this is a very dangerous move and I guarantee that if it were I would probably have been kicked out of the game.”
– Kyle Neubeck (@KyleNeubeck) January 28, 2021
In case you need an update, here are the NBA definitions for blatant fouls, the last of which results in an automatic expulsion:
Flagrant foul penalty 1: unnecessary contact by a player against an opponent
Blatant foul penalty 2: unnecessary and excessive contact by a player against an opponent
Officials apparently considered James’s push unnecessary, but not excessive to protect the paint. Embiid seems to think differently.
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