A slightly bewildered smile, then black anger. Against Spurs last night, Joel Embiid experienced a big swing of emotions in reaction to Jenna Schroeder's refereeing decisions. Three minutes before the break, the Sixers pivot impaled himself on his opposite number, Victor Wembanyama, during an attempted penetration.
A gesture logically punished with an offensive foul. Except that the person concerned had little taste for this whistle, synonymous with a third personal foul. Joel Embiid then got angry with the referee, receiving a first, then a second technical, to the point of having to be restrained by Kyle Lowry and members of his staff…
It was his second career expulsion. After the match, Chief Referee Curtis Blair said that there had been accidental contact between the two ” during the sequence, which the footage doesn't really show, but he added: ” There was nothing to justify another sanction. » So a single technical fault would have been enough?
For his part, Nick Nurse said he had no explanation for this decision, as he was unable to discuss it with the referee. “ So I asked the other guys and they told me to ask him, but I never really got a chance to do it. I assumed it was for arguing or something “, thus develops the coach.
In any case, this sequence came a few minutes after an even more improbable first play, once again involving Victor Wembanyama and the replacement pivot for the Sixers, Andre Drummond. The latter had received a technical foul for having pushed the Frenchman, who found himself on the ground.
One, then two arbitral decisions annulled
Before being sanctioned a second time for the same reason on the following throw-in. A second technique synonymous with expulsion, thus pushing Joel Embiid's replacement to run to the locker room, frustrated but in contained anger. Except that after a video review, the referees canceled the expulsion and gave Victor Wembanyama a technical foul for “flopping”.
Tyrese Maxey then converted the free throw while Andre Drummond returned from the locker room to the cheers of the home crowd… but the officials finally canceled the Frenchman's technical foul and removed the Sixers' point! “ It was all really strange », Qualifies Nick Nurse who ends up bursting out laughing at the press conference at the absurdity of the whole thing.
Fans in the front row filmed referee Jenna Schroeder approaching the Sixers bench, admit to having “ shit » for this sequence.
“ I heard her say it », Confirms Nick Nurse while the referees finally described Wemby's second fall in front of Andre Drummond as accidental. “ He just stepped on my foot and I fell. I didn't expect the foul to be called. I just fell “, defends the Frenchman.
All that for that… “ So we erase the last ten seconds of this match », rightly remarked the local TV commentator. At the same time, we could see Joel Embiid laughing at this sequence with Chris Paul. A few minutes later, he wasn't laughing at all.
| Joel Embiid | Percentage | Rebounds | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Team | MJ | Min | Shots | 3pts | L.F. | Off | Def | Early | Pd | Party | Int | Bp | Ct | Pts |
| 2016-17 | PHL | 31 | 25 | 46.6 | 36.7 | 78.3 | 2.0 | 5.9 | 7.8 | 2.1 | 3.6 | 0.9 | 3.8 | 2.5 | 20.2 |
| 2017-18 | PHL | 63 | 30 | 48.3 | 30.8 | 76.9 | 2.3 | 8.7 | 11.0 | 3.2 | 3.3 | 0.6 | 3.7 | 1.8 | 22.9 |
| 2018-19 | PHL | 64 | 34 | 48.4 | 30.0 | 80.4 | 2.5 | 11.1 | 13.6 | 3.7 | 3.3 | 0.7 | 3.5 | 1.9 | 27.5 |
| 2019-20 | PHL | 51 | 30 | 47.7 | 33.1 | 80.7 | 2.8 | 8.9 | 11.6 | 3.0 | 3.4 | 0.9 | 3.1 | 1.3 | 23.0 |
| 2020-21 | PHL | 51 | 31 | 51.3 | 37.7 | 85.9 | 2.2 | 8.4 | 10.6 | 2.8 | 2.4 | 1.0 | 3.1 | 1.4 | 28.5 |
| 2021-22 | PHL | 68 | 34 | 49.9 | 37.1 | 81.4 | 2.1 | 9.6 | 11.7 | 4.2 | 2.7 | 1.1 | 3.1 | 1.5 | 30.6 |
| 2022-23 ★ | PHL | 66 | 35 | 54.8 | 33.0 | 85.7 | 1.7 | 8.4 | 10.2 | 4.2 | 3.1 | 1.0 | 3.4 | 1.7 | 33.1 |
| 2023-24 | PHL | 39 | 34 | 52.9 | 38.8 | 88.3 | 2.4 | 8.6 | 11.0 | 5.6 | 2.9 | 1.2 | 3.8 | 1.7 | 34.7 |
| 2024-25 | PHL | 7 | 30 | 42.9 | 20.7 | 94.1 | 1.7 | 5.6 | 7.3 | 4.6 | 2.3 | 0.6 | 3.4 | 1.1 | 22.3 |
| Total | 440 | 32 | 50.2 | 33.9 | 82.7 | 2.2 | 8.9 | 11.1 | 3.6 | 3.1 | 0.9 | 3.4 | 1.7 | 27.8 | |
How to read the stats? MJ = matches played; Min = Minutes; Shots = Successful shots / Attempted shots; 3pts = 3-points / 3-points attempted; LF = free throws made / free throws attempted; Off = offensive rebound; Def=defensive rebound; Tot = Total rebounds; Pd = assists; Fte: Personal fouls; Int = Intercepts; Bp = Lost balls; Ct: Against; Pts = Points.
