Imagine one of the world’s most famous skyscrapers banning you! Yep! That’s what happened with Joel Embiid. Despite his stunning 50-point haul in the Sixers’ 125-114 win against the Knicks, he was in the news for his “dirty” play. Yes, just a few minutes into the game, Embiid averted an ejection by falling on the court and grabbing Mitchell Robbinson’s legs. He tried to drag Robinson to ensure he did not attempt the dunk.

Robinson was in the air, inching closer to a two-handed slam dunk, but then Embiid held both his legs, and dragged him to the floor, after which Robinson fell on top of Embiid. This did lead to a flagrant one foul charge for Embiid. But it didn’t end there.

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. He left the game shortly after and did not return. But Embiid escaped a second flagrant one foul, that would have seen him head for an early shower. His antics coupled with his stunning 50-point night led the Empire State Building to tweet, “Joel Embiid has been banned from the Empire State Building”.

Embiid has been pretty vocal about getting “no calls” from the officiating in the past games. Then, after not getting “calls” on offensive and defensive ends tonight, he couldn’t help but get frustrated and engage in some physical play. Even earlier in the game an apparent knee to the groin of Isaiah Hartenstein was deemed a common offensive foul.

After the game, reactions started to pour in. Knicks SG Donte DiVincenzo called this scenario “dirty,” while Hartenstein believes it wasn’t a “basketball play”. On the other hand, Embiid defended his actions, claiming that he was only looking out for himself. “I didn’t mean to hurt anybody. In those situations, I got to protect myself, because I’ve been in way too many situations where I’m always the recipient of the bad end of it. It was unfortunate.” He even went so far where he brought in Jonathan Kuminga in the middle, saying, “I was trying to make sure he doesn’t land on me because obviously, we know what happened when Kuminga landed on my knee”. But the Knicks weren’t convinced and neither was their HC Tom Thibodeau.

When asked about Embiid’s flagrant foul charge after the game, Thibodeau replied, “Which one? The one they called, or the one they didn’t call? Just want to make sure we have clarity on that.” 

Embiid’s antics did take the spotlight away from a fantastic performance that allowed the Sixers to reduce the deficit against the Knicks in the series. But it all could have been different had he been ejected.

Joel Embiid and his punchy performance

It was just about 4 minutes into the first quarter, the Knicks were up by 3 points. Then suddenly after the foul, Embiid continued playing, thanking the stars his knee was in good shape. Embiid played, and he dominated! He dominated so well, that he ended up shooting a career-high (playoffs) 50 points, including 33 in the second half alone. He was hitting 13 of his 19 shots with 8 rebounds, leading the 76ers to a 13-point advantage in the fourth quarter.

And just like that, Embiid became the first 76ers’ player to score 50 points in the postseason, since Iverson in 2003. And he did so despite suffering from Bell’s Palsy, a condition where facial muscles get weaker on one side, often leading to paralysis of that side. As per Joel, he started to feel the symptoms on the left side of his face, around his mouth, and his eye, complaining that his eye was consistently dry and blurry. He was wearing dark sunglasses after Thursday’s game.

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Right in the middle of the first half, Embiid got a foul again. But his HC Nick Nurse helped him keep his focus on the game, after which he scored 7 points in the last 6 minutes of the second quarter. In the third quarter, he dished out 18 points, 7-of-8 shooting, and 4-of-4 on three-pointers. With his help, the Sixers managed to make 15-of-31 three-pointers, with 9-of-12 in just the third quarter alone.

Embiid’s last record of such a high score was 3 years ago, with 40 points in the semifinals against the Hawks. It now remains to be seen what will Embiid and the Sixers do in the next matchup, considering his health concerns. With this win for the Sixers, the series is finely poised 2-1 in favor of the NY Knicks ahead of the Game 4. One thing’s for sure, when Embiid goes to New York for Game 5, the reception for him won’t be pleasant.