Doc Rivers upset on league’s assessment on Joel Embiid last G3 vs Nets
Doc Rivers isn’t amused by how the league handled Joel Embiid’s near-ejection situation in the Philadelphia 76ers’ Game 3 victory against the Brooklyn Nets last Thursday.
“I think the league is setting up a very dangerous precedent right now,” Rivers said, per The Athletic’s Rich Hofmann. “If we’re going to start punishing the retaliators and not the instigators, then we got a problem in this league.”
Embiid was on a tight rope of removal due to his kicking made against Nic Claxton, who stepped over him following a thunderous dunk. He was slapped with a Flagrant Foul 1 as a response.
Meanwhile, Rivers described the officials’ ejection against James Harden as a “joke.” The star guard left prematurely in the second-half after hitting Royce O’Neale in the groin.
Amid these controversies, the NBA already announced that no further sanctions will be imposed on both Sixers stars according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
Rivers also noted that Draymond Green shouldn’t got suspended in Game 3 of the Golden State Warriors’ first-round matchup against the Sacramento Kings, claiming that Domantas Sabonis started the incident.
“Draymond Green stepped on a guy’s chest because he was holding his foot,” Rivers said. “The instigator was holding his foot.”
The NBA penned down in its statement that Green’s history of unsportsmanlike acts played a key role on the punishment, but Rivers reiterated that the league has to focus on the present.
“I don’t believe in the past stuff, either,” Rivers added. “They take away all your techs at the end of the season and you start over, then you should start over with that stuff too.
“Joe was saying with Draymond: the past. No, you should have done something then. This is now.”
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