A flagrant foul called Thursday night on Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid will not be rescinded, ESPN reported Friday, citing league sources.
Late in the fourth quarter of the Sixers’ 112-101 victory over the Toronto Raptors in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference semifinals, Embiid smacked center Marc Gasol in the face with his hand as they were battling for a rebound. Embiid, who finished with 17 points and 12 rebounds, was called for a flagrant foul, his third point of this year’s playoffs.
A player will be punished with an automatic one-game suspension after reaching four flagrant-foul points. Each subsequent flagrant point will earn the player an additional one-game suspension.
“I mean it’s annoying, it’s stupid,” Embiid said after the game. “I feel like the one in Brooklyn should be rescinded and tonight, it’s just basketball. I didn’t mean to do it. I just happened to hit him in the face, I guess, and didn’t mean to do it.
“It just happened. A lot of things like that happen. I got hit in the face in the first half by [Toronto’s] Pascal but kind of like the same situation that wasn’t a flagrant. I saw the video of it, I mean it doesn’t look that bad. … It’s tough. I guess I get one more and I’m gone for one game. So I got to look out for it, but that’s definitely, this one and in the one in Brooklyn that I feel like I didn’t deserve.”
During Philadelphia’s first-round series against the Brooklyn Nets, Embiid received two flagrant 1 fouls, elbowing center Jarrett Allen in Game 2, then in Game 4 fouling Allen, who was attempting a layup.
That led to a fight on the court, and the Sixers’ Jimmy Butler and Nets’ Jared Dudley were ejected.
The Sixers and Raptors meet in the deciding Game 7 on Sunday in Toronto. Another flagrant foul for Embiid would mean (if Philadelphia wins) getting suspended for Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals in Milwaukee or (if Philadelphia loses) sitting out the first game he plays in the 2019-20 regular season.
–Field Level Media
