It has been a rollercoaster of a season for the Philadelphia 76ers, who came into 2022-23 as one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference. They started off slow and then proceeded to pick up a head of steam despite injuries to some key players and now have a 12-12 record, which leaves them at 7th in the East.
They have been consistent over their last three games but for all the wrong reasons, having lost all three of them. Head coach Doc Rivers was furious after the second defeat from those three, which came against the Memphis Grizzlies, and he definitely wasn’t too happy after their latest loss at the hands of the lowly Houston Rockets.
Doc Rivers Calls For A Change In The NBA’s Blood Rule After The Joel Embiid Incident
It was a thriller of a game, with the Rockers finally winning 132-123 in double overtime. Things might have turned out differently, however, as Joel Embiid had to exit the game for quite a while, as he had some blood on his face and jersey. He left the game with the Sixers down 79-78 with 2:45 left in the third quarter, and by the time he returned with 8:38 remaining in the fourth, the Rockets were up 96-90. Rivers was not happy that Embiid had to miss so much time and said that the NBA needs to change the blood rule.
via Heavy:
“He had blood on his face, so I don’t know what took so long,” Rivers said. “I was going crazy on the sideline. I kept asking, kept looking, no Joel. He had blood all over him, so he had to take everything down and put it back on. I think the blood rule is insane. Don’t even get me started with that. That was back in the 80s, we need to relook at that rule, but we don’t.”
Embiid clearly wasn’t badly hurt for him to miss that much time, but then again, you can’t have a player continue on when there’s some blood on him. Rivers seems quite frustrated these days, which is understandable, as there is a lot of pressure on him.
He has failed to deliver in the postseason, and if the Sixers have another early exit, then you have to think he might lose his job. He was reportedly on the hot seat earlier this season but was saved as the team did string together some wins. Rivers also got a boost in this game with James Harden finally returning after missing 14 games, and he might help the Sixers go on a run from here on out.
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