The Philadelphia 76ers beat the Los Angeles Lakers, 107-106, last Wednesday night in Philly. Tobias Harris sinks the jumper with 2.4 seconds left the game as the Sixers survived the Lakers' 13-0 run late in the 4th quarter. Ben Simmons tallied a triple-double while Joel Embiid led the Sixers in scoring with 28 points.
The Sixers ended the Lakers' undefeated record of 10-0 on the road this season.LeBron James scored a game-high 34 points, had seven dimes, and grabbed six boards. James also committed a flagrant one foul on Embiid after pushing Embiid to the ground while the 7'0 center was on the air.
It was the first flagrant foul committed by James since 2014.
Joel Embiid was visibly in pain and went down hard on his back after being fouled.
LeBron was called for a flagrant 1 and Embiid stayed in the game. pic.twitter.com/LSOVsgVy5f
— ESPN (@espn) January 28, 2021Embiid wasn't a fan of the call; however, he believes that the right call should be a flagrant 2, which is an automatic ejection from the game.
Embiid said, "Well, first of all, I mean you look at it, that's a very dangerous play; I guarantee you that if it was me, I would have probably been ejected from the game, which has happened in the past with me getting flagrant fouls really for nothing."
Coincidentally, Embiid was called for the same flagrant foul he committed on Anthony Davis late in the 3rd quarter.
Embiid elbowed Davis on one offensive play.
Embiid thinks that he didn't commit a flagrant on that play but signaled that James should've been ejected from the ball game.
"When you compare that to the one that I got, which I thought I didn't really hit him, I didn't elbow him," Embiid on comparing the two flagrant fouls called.
He added that James' foul deserved the flagrant, but Davis's foul wasn't because he thinks that his elbow didn't really touch Davis's face.
Meanwhile, here are the NBA guidelines for flagrant fouls.
According to them, the definition for a flagrant foul penalty 1 is "unnecessary contact committed by a player against an opponent." In contrast, a flagrant foul penalty two is defined as "unnecessary and excessive contact committed by a player against the opponent."
Joel Embiid was called for a flagrant 1 foul on Anthony Davis. pic.twitter.com/OF8v6fvkb1
— ESPN (@espn) January 28, 2021Both flagrant fouls would give two free throw attempts plus one possession to the opposing team, but a flagrant foul penalty two would lead to the player's automatic ejection.
The final ruling, though, is still up to the NBA referees.
Embiid has a reputation of being one of the biggest floppers in the league right now. Do you think that Embiid was selling the call to the referee on that play, or LeBron just fouled him hard? Should LeBron James have been ejected from the game as per Joel Embiid, or the referees' call was correct, and should it remain as flagrant foul penalty 1?
The Lakers and Sixers will meet once more late in the season. Would you love to see a Lakers-Sixers NBA Finals matchup this year? It would be a 2001 NBA Finals rematch of both teams, which featured Lakers' Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal and Sixers' Allen Iverson.
