Joel Embiid Doesn't Disagree With Final Foul Call vs. Bulls
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Midway through the fourth quarter of Monday’s game against the Chicago Bulls, Joel Embiid took the floor with just three fouls to his name.
Within minutes, the big man racked up two quick fouls, which put him in danger of fouling out before the game concluded.
Fortunately, Embiid made it out of the fourth quarter in the clear. The Sixers and the Bulls finished the fourth quarter tied at 91. Therefore, Embiid had to go into overtime with just one foul to give.
Although he played the entire five-minute period, Embiid made it out without fouling out. Unfortunately for the Sixers, they needed a second overtime period to settle the score. Embiid made it just one minute into the second overtime period before he was whistled for foul No. 6.
When the big man was whistled for the call, it was questionable at first look. Many expected Doc Rivers to mirror his decision from last week’s game against the Cleveland Cavaliers when he requested a challenge, which reversed the decision to have Embiid fouled out, but the Sixers’ head coach lived with the call on the floor this time around.
After the game, Rivers didn’t have any regrets.
“It was a foul, yeah,” said the head coach.
“It was a foul. Like, you don’t waste a timeout if it’s a sure foul. I mean, don’t waste your timeout.”
Shortly after Rivers agreed with the call that went against the Sixers on the floor, Embiid echoed the same sentiment.
“Yeah, it was a foul,” the All-Star admitted.
While Embiid added that he disagreed with one of the foul calls that went against him in the first half, where he was whistled for a charge rather than his opponent getting called for a blocking foul, Embiid wasn’t looking to blame the team’s shortcomings on Monday on questionable calls that led to his early exit.
“The blocking foul in the first half, well, it was a charge called, but I asked them to review it,” Embiid said.” I’m sure it was a blocking foul. I mean, that’s the game. Just got to be better.”
Embiid finished his night prematurely with 37 points in 44 minutes. While the Sixers took the game down to the wire without him, they couldn’t close it out on top. Minutes after Embiid took a trip to the bench for good, the Sixers came up short 109-105.
Now, they look forward to facing the Bulls in Chicago once more on Wednesday night.
Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for All76ers, a Sports Illustrated channel. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_.
