The Philadelphia 76ers picked up a win on Thursday night in Game 3 of their first round series against the New York Knicks. As is usually the case, the Sixers were led by Joel Embiid, who was nothing short of brilliant in what might go down as the best game of his playoff career. Despite dealing with Bell’s palsy, Embiid went for 50 points on 13-for-19 shooting with eight rebounds and four assists in a 125-114 win that cut the Knicks’s lead in the series to 2-1.
The game did feature a bit of controversy, as Embiid received a Flagrant 1 for a foul on Mitchell Robinson that looked like it could have been more. While Embiid was laying on the ground, he wrapped his arms around Robinson’s ankles as he went up for a shot.
Joel Embiid received a Flagrant 1 after this foul on Mitchell Robinson 😳 pic.twitter.com/2ygeQh8gMG
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) April 26, 2024
Embiid came under a ton of scrutiny for the foul, with Donte DiVincenzo telling the media after the game “It was dirty. It was dirty.” While Josh Hart didn’t go quite as far, he was still unhappy with Embiid for the foul.
“I mean, we’re just happy Mitch didn’t get a serious injury on that,” Hart said, per Tim Bontemps of ESPN. “I’m all for tough fouls, tough playoff fouls, but that’s something that can put a guy out for a significant amount of time. So we’re lucky he didn’t get seriously hurt during that time.”
Embiid defended himself by saying he was trying to make sure Robinson didn’t land on him while he was on the ground, saying “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.”
Robinson, who has been dealing with ankle issues this year and needed surgery that kept him sidelined for a spell, tried to remain in the game, but was eventually ruled out with an ankle sprain after going into the locker room for halftime. His status for Game 4 is unclear.
