Safe to say there’s no love lost between the Philadelphia 76ers and New York Knicks following Game 3 of their first-round series.
Philadelphia picked up a 125-114 win to cut the series deficit to 2-1 on the heels of a 50-point performance from Joel Embiid, but most of the post-game conversation was about a moment from the first quarter.
Midway through the frame Embiid ended up on the ground following a strong take by OG Anunoby and decided the best way to contest a dunk attempt by Mitchell Robinson was to grab his legs. After a review by the officiating crew, Embiid was assessed a flagrant foul type one.
Robinson seemed fine following the incident but would go on to tweak his ankle later in the second quarter and did not return for the second half. After the game, he was seen leaving the Wells Fargo Center in a walking boot.
His Knicks teammates were quick to chime in and share their thoughts on the moment.
“I’m all for tough fouls, tough playoff fouls,” Josh Hart said to reporters post-game. “But that’s something that can put a guy out for a significant amount of time.”
Donte DiVincenzo kept it brief, simply saying “it was dirty.”
Isaiah Hartenstein said Embiid’s foul “wasn’t a basketball play.”
Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau offered more to reporters when asked about the incident.
“Which one?” Thibodeau asked. “The one they called, or the one they didn’t call? Just want to make sure we have clarity on that.” New York’s bench boss was eluding to a play minutes before the Embiid flagrant foul where he got tangled with Hartenstein and appeared to strike the Knicks’ centre in the groin.
Thibodeau mentioned he would send clips to the league about things he wanted to bring to the NBA’s attention but wouldn’t hold his breath on anything changing.
“I’ll send my clips in like I do every game, and then they’ll say ‘marginal contact.’ And then we’ll have marginal contact on Embiid, and he’ll be at the line 21 times,” Thibodeau said. “(Officials) have a pool reporter, don’t they? That might be a good question for ’em.”
Crew chief Zach Zarba did answer the question post-game and kept his comments consistent with the decision to assess Embiid with a flagrant one.
“In this instance, the crew was unanimous along with the replay centre official in Secaucus that this foul was unnecessary but did not rise to the level of a flagrant 2,” said Zarba to a pool reporter. “The unnecessary contact rose to the level of a flagrant 1 but we were unanimous that this did not rise to the level of excessive contact, unnecessary and excessive, which would have been a flagrant 2 ejection.”
On the other side, 76ers head coach Nick Nurse had very little to say as he “didn’t see it.”
Game 4 between the two squads will tip off in Philadelphia on Sunday.
