New York Knicks center Mitchell Robinson’s availability for Game 4 is in serious doubt after he left Game 3 in a walking boot following Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid’s dangerous play.
Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau revealed to reporters Robinson sat out Saturday’s practice.
‘We’ll see where he is tomorrow (Sunday, April 28),” Thibodeau said, per SNY’s Ian Begley.
Robinson was already questionable to play in Game 3 with left ankle injury management but the center, who missed 50 games in the regular season, soldiered on until re-aggravating it in the first quarter.
The dangerous play occured with 4:34 in the first quarter when Embiid fell to the ground trying to draw an offensive foul. After it wasn’t called, Embiid then grabbed at Robinson’s legs while the Knicks center in the air.
Robinson’s left ankle condition worsened and he was ruled out after halftime.
Unfortunately for the Knicks, Embiid was only hit with a Flagrant Foul 1 which kept him in the game and proceeded to drop a playoff career-high 50 points as the Sixers won 125-114.
The loss was a bitte pill to swallow for the Knicks after Embiid’s dangerous play put them at a massive disadvantage with Robinson’s availability for the rest of the series is now in peril.
Knicks guard Donte DiVincenzo labeled Embiid’s foul a “dirty play.”
Joel Embiid Should Have Been Ejected
ESPN analyst Jay Williams said Embiid’s dangerous foul on Robinson warranted an ejection.
“As much as I love that [Embiid’s 50-point game], in the first quarter when he grabbed Mitchell Robinson’s legs — now look I want to see the players determine the game more than anything and I know the referees feel like they would have not gotten out of that arena in Philadelphia had they called Flagrant [foul] 2 — that play alone on Mitchell Robinson while he was on the ground grabbing the knee of another player while he is in the air … deserved a Flagrant 2,” Williams said on “Get Up” on April 26.
“Joel deserved to be ejected. That’s how I feel about it. I think that would have been the case for anybody else but I know they wanted to see Joel play but that deserved a Flagrant 2 that would have obviously changed the outcome of Game 3 in Philadelphia.”
Embiid also got away with a kick to Knicks starting center Isaiah Hartenstein’s groin later in the game.
Joel Embiid Claims He Didn’t Mean to Hurt
Embiid defended himself from the dirty player accusations, citing a past incident where Golden State Warriors forward Jonathan Kuminga landed on his knee.
“So I kind of had some flashbacks, when he came down to it,” Embiid told reporters after the game. “It was unfortunate. I didn’t mean to hurt anybody.
I just … in those situations I gotta protect myself, because I’ve been in way too many situations where I’m always the recipient of the bad end of it. So yeah, it was unfortunate, but physical game.
They want to bring the physicality. We can be physical too, and we are. So it goes both ways. I get bumped all over the place, and I just keep playing and I’m not going to take it. I gotta keep my mind and make sure that I don’t get outside myself. But yeah, I just gotta keep being myself, being aggressive and physical.”
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