Joel Embiid’s “Dirty” Tactics Eclipse Draymond Green, Proves Wild Stat After 76ers Star’s Controversial Game 3 Play

The officiating complaints continue to pile up. But this time, it’s the New York Knicks feeling the sting. The Philadelphia 76ers bounced back after dropping two games with a 125-114 in Game 3, thanks in large part to Joel Embiid’s 50-point game. But just like the previous games, this one was also marred by controversy. The Knicks were peeved at some of Embiid’s antics during the game, including one in the first quarter where he grabbed Knicks big man Mitchell Robinson and dragged him to the ground, resulting in Robinson leaving the arena wearing a walking boot.

Following the game, Donte DiVincenzo labeled the play “dirty” while Josh Hart called it “reckless.” However, there are also a few share of people who think Embiid does not play dirty. For those, Tommy Beer has all the receipts. According to Beer, Embiid has amassed the most number of fouls in the NBA (yes, even more than Draymond Green) in the last six years, totaling up to 23 Flagrant Fouls. 16 of those came in the regular season, while 7 were during the playoffs.

To put things in perspective, he also compares them to Draymond Green, who, by the way, has caught a lot of flak for his non-basketball plays throughout his career. Surprisingly, despite playing 30 more games than Embiid over a six-season span, Green has accumulated seven fewer Flagrant Fouls. What’s more, Embiid has landed at least one Flagrant Foul in each of the last six seasons, making it the longest ongoing streak in the NBA.

Joel Embiid justifies “dirty” play in Game 3 versus the New York Knicks

Following his opening-period controversial play, Embiid swung his leg upward unnecessarily and hit Robinson in the groin in the second quarter. Robinson, who was already limping for the rest of the first half, was forced to sit out the rest of the game due to a left ankle sprain, while Embiid was only accessed with a flagrant foul 1. However, the New Yorkers believed that Embiid’s plays warranted ejection. Not only that, the reigning MVP also picked up an offensive foul after catching Isaiah Hartenstein with a knee below the belt.

Following the game, Embiid shared his side of the story, stating that his reaction was purely defensive. As he was lying on the ground, his mind went back to when Jonathan Kuminga fell on him in San Francisco back on Jan. 30. That fateful collision caused Embiid resulted in a meniscus injury that required surgery that kept him out for two months. “Obviously Mitchell Robinson jumping and trying to land, trying to make sure he doesn’t land on me because obviously we know the history that I have with Kuminga landing on my knee. So I kind of had some flashbacks, when he came down to it.”

I just … in those situations I gotta protect myself, because I’ve been in way too many situations where I’m always the recipient of the bad end of it. So yeah, it was unfortunate, but physical game,” added the 76ers star. Do you think a Flagrant Foul 1 was justified? Or the officials should have accessed a Flagrant Foul 2? Let us know in the comments!