Knicks Blast Joel Embiid's 'Dirty' Play In Game 3

Joel Embiid's historic evening against the New York Knicks was partly marred by several "dirty" plays.

Apr 25, 2024; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid (21) is fouled / Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports

New York City and Philadelphia can't agree on much, but each appears equally peeved at officiating three games into respective NBA teams' Eastern Conference Quarterfinal series.

Game 3 of the best-of-seven set, a 125-114 Thursday win for the Philadelphia 76ers over the New York Knicks, was more one-sided than its predecessor but equally dramatic: whereas the Sixers bemoaned officiating toward the end of Monday's Game 2 thriller, the Knicks' issues lied with the early stages.

Philadelphia's Joel Embiid was the undisputed star of Thursday's game with 50 points on 13-of-19 shooting, but several Knicks were shocked that the reigning NBA MVP was allowed to get that far after the first period. Embiid was the center of a couple of dangerous, painful foul calls that some New Yorkers believed warranted ejection.

Apr 25, 2024; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid (21) has words / Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports

An apparent knee to the groin of Isaiah Hartenstein (which was deemed a common offensive foul) was bad enough but the Knicks believed that Embiid got downright dangerous when he, having fallen to the floor while trying to guard OG Anunoby, pulled down a shooting Mitchell Robinson by the ankles. According to Ian Begley of SNY, Donte DiVincenzo called the play "dirty" while Josh Hart labeled it "reckless." In that same report, Hartenstein said that Embiid's defense on Robinson "wasn't a basketball play."

That incident led to a flagrant one foul charge for Embiid, but controversy surfaced in the second quarter, when Embiid followed through on a jumper by landing his foot in the groin of Robinson, who was already playing the rest of the first half with a limp. Robinson, who was listed as questionable on the pregame injury report thanks to a left ankle injury, left the game shortly after and did not return. Jake Fischer of Yahoo! Sports caught video of Robinson leaving Wells Fargo Center with his left ankle in a medical boot.

Had Embiid been charged with a second flagrant one, he would've been ejected from the game. A single flagrant two call also would've sent him to the locker room early.

Instead Embiid perhaps rendered the incidents long forgotten in the eyes of the casual viewer when he scored 33 of his 50 points in a dominant second half, joining Allen Iverson and Billy Cunningham as the only Sixers to hit the half-century mark in scoring in a playoff game. But his antics and their aftermath lingered in the Knicks' locker room.

"We’re just happy Mitch didn’t get a serious injury on that," Hart said, per Stefan Bondy of the New York Post. "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.”

Apr 22, 2024; New York, New York, USA; New York Knicks center Mitchell Robinson (23) warms up / Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports

In that same report, Embiid claimed he was "protect(ing) (him)self" and "didn’t mean to hurt anybody," but members of the Knicks don't appear to be buying it. When asked about Embiid's flagrant charge, Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau cheekily replied "Which one?" (h/t SNY). His Philadelphia counterpart Nick Nurse said he "didn't see" the first Embiid-Robinson incident. (h/t New York Basketball on X)

Nurse's see no evil approach was a stark contrast from the aftermath of Monday's game, where he and Embiid blamed officials for their 2-0 hole. Their claims may have been partly vindicated by the Last Two Minute Report that yielded several missed calls that would've gone in the 76ers' favor, but that's reportedly not stopping the team from filing a grievance with the league over the officiating from the first two contests.

This time, it was Thibodeau highlighting an officiating discrepancy: whereas the Knicks got to the foul line only 19 times as a team on Thursday, Embiid alone took 21 at the charity stripe, hitting all but two. That output partly helped him become the first player in NBA history to score 50 points on less than 20 attempts from the field.

Thibodeau unfavorably compared Embiid's treatment to that of Jalen Brunson's, as he has frequently been critical of his point guard's supposed lack of free throw attempts brought about by his interior invasions. Brunson led the Knicks with 39 points on Thursday but got to the line "only" 12 times.

"I'll send my clips in like I do every game, and then they'll say 'marginal contact,'" Thibodeau said, per SNY. "Then we'll have marginal contact on Embiid, and he'll be at the line 21 times."

All parties will have plenty of time to review the game film and search for more missed calls if they choose, as Game 4 is staged for Sunday afternoon in Philadelphia (1 p.m. ET, ABC).

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