A Wild Scrum During Game 4 Of Sixers-Heat Injured Two And Drew Double Technicals

Game 3 of the first round series between the Miami Heat and Philadelphia 76ers was widely described as the chippiest game of the postseason thus far, and Saturday’s Game 4 proved to match that intensity in the first half.

A back-and-forth game was as physical as it was exciting, culminating in a sequence that resulted in two Miami Heat players leaving the game injured and a shoving-and-shouting match between Ben Simmons and James Johnson.
The action happened all over the court late in the second quarter, but it started when Embiid dove for a loose ball and ended up taking out two Heat players with injuries.

Embiid’s hip collided with Josh Richardson’s shoulder as he dove to the court, and he stayed down in a heap as the play continued. Embiid also elbowed Justise Winslow in the head on the way down. None of the damage was intentional, and Winslow actually patted Embiid on the side to make sure he was OK. That’s despite the fact that the two had quite the battle in Game 3, so it was actually a nice bit of sportsmanship.

Play continued up the court, though, and soon Embiid was running in to interfere with a conflict between Simmons and Johnson, who got into it after Johnson took exception with Robert Covington.

Richardson remained down on the court while the scuffle was quelled by officials and coaches. He left the game and Winslow soon followed after he realized he needed to get stitches, as Embiid had opened up a cut above his eye.

https://twitter.com/MiamiHEAT/status/987775971838316544

Winslow returned before the end of the half, and ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski soon reported that Richardson would be OK to return to Game 4.

The end result of the scrum, then, was a foul on Simmons and double technicals on the presumptive Rookie of the Year and Johnson, his shouting partner.

Not as bad as it first looked, but it certainly added to the tension in what’s been one of the best series of the first round.