The Philadelphia 76ers have quietly won seven of their last 10 games after holding off Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs 111-106 on Monday night. Joel Embiid made it harder than it needed to be for Philadelphia by getting ejected late in the first half for arguing a charge call that went against him.
To be fair, it was a weak call as Wembanyama clearly flopped after minimal contact. But the irony of Embiid, a flopper extraordinaire if there ever was one, getting this heated over an acting job that he has perfected is hilarious.
Here’s some more context: This ref that chucked Embiid was the same ref that had previously thrown Andre Drummond out of the game after another bogus Wembanyama flop.
At least in this case the officials had the good sense to review the play and rightly wound up rescinding Drummond’s ejection, but the tension between the Sixers and the officials had still been lit. Embiid was tossed less than five minutes later.
That said, Embiid simply has to control himself. He didn’t just get upset; he lost his mind after he was hit with that foul, his third of the game. Yes, the Sixers won the game, but this was just the fifth time all year that Philly’s Big Three of Embiid, Paul George and Tyrese Maxey were all in the lineup. It was a big opportunity to get some extended minutes together, especially in closing time. But Embiid blew his top, thus blowing the chance for valuable experience playing off one another in a tight game.
Again, it was a weak call, but one from which Embiid has benefited countless times. Besides that, forget the five games the big three has played together — this was just the eighth game Embiid has suited up in total.
When you can hardly get yourself on the court in the first place, the top priority, one would think, would be actually staying on the court. As mentioned, the Embiid-George-Maxey trio has only suited up together five times this season, and only twice did they actually finish the game together. George got hurt in one, Embiid suffered a sinus fracture against Indiana less than two weeks ago, and now Embiid was tossed on Monday night.
This was just an impulsive, immature and terribly ironic reaction from Embiid. The Sixers got away with it in the short term, but on the long run, at some point, they’re going to need Embiid, Maxey and George to get on the court, and stay on the court, together for some extended time.
