NEW York Knicks fans were furious with the NBA after Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid was not given an ejection for a flagrant foul.
The foul sequence occurred during the first quarter of the 76ers’ 125-114 Game 3 victory in Philadelphia.
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Just over four minutes into the first quarter, Embiid was on the offensive side of the ball.
He fell to the ground and tried to draw an offensive foul that was not called.
Embiid grabbed Knicks center Mitchell Robinson’s leg as he fell to the ground.
Robinson then fell to the ground and was later ruled out at halftime with a sprained left ankle.
The referees, however, called a foul on Embiid and then analyzed the play to determine whether it was Flag 1 or Flag 2.
If the latter was chosen, Embiid would have been ejected from the game.
It was ruled by team leader Zach Zarba that the foul was Flagrant 1.
Embiid would continue to play and score a career-high 50 points to give the Knicks a 2-1 series lead.
However, Knicks fans believe the NBA is rigged because the reigning MVP was not ejected from the game following the first quarter incident.
“The foul that Embiid committed against Robinson is incredibly bad and dirty.” one commented.
“One of the dirtiest fouls in league history… the NBA is so rigged,” wrote another.
“Embiid should have been ejected, but the NBA is rigged,” said a third.
Robinson entered the NBA playoff game with questionable status due to an injury to his left ankle — the same ankle he had surgery on earlier in the season.
After the game, Knicks guard Donte DiVincenzo called Embiid’s play “dirty,” while teammate and forward Josh Hart opened up on the subject.
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“I mean, we’re glad Mitch didn’t suffer a serious injury because of this,” Hart said, per ESPN.
“I’m all for hard fouls, hard fouls in the playoffs, but that’s something that could leave a guy out for a significant period of time.
“So we’re lucky he wasn’t seriously injured during that time.”
Embiid was also in the middle of another controversial play when he was called for an offensive foul on Isaiah Hartenstein.
His knee went up into Hartenstein’s midsection during a play.
The 76ers will try to even the series 2-2 when they face the Knicks on Sunday.
This story originally appeared on The-sun.com read the full story
