The Toronto Raptors lived to fight another day after finally getting a win against the Philadelphia 76ers in Game 4 of their first-round series. The Raptors found themselves in a 3-0 hole and lost Fred VanVleet to injury during the game, but a massive performance from Siakam led them to a 110-102 win in their home arena, ensuring that the team doesn’t get swept.
The officiating in this series has been called into question all series long, with Nick Nurse famously complaining about it and Joel Embiid responding in kind. However, Siakam’s ire after Game 4 was directed at Embiid himself and not the officials, with the Raptors star suggesting that Embiid made plays in the 4th quarter that were dirty.
Siakam on those plays with Embiid in the 4th: "I'm a competitor. I love competing. This is the playoffs, the highest level. I'm cool with the talking, I just don't want those dirty plays. I don't like that. Keep it basketball… At the end of the day, it's all fake toughness"
— Josh Lewenberg (@JLew1050) April 23, 2022
“I’m a competitor. I love competing. This is the playoffs, the highest level. I’m cool with the talking, I just don’t want those dirty plays. I don’t like that. Keep it basketball… At the end of the day, it’s all fake toughness”
Embiid is excellent at jawing at players and getting under their skin, the Sixers MVP is a monster defensively. However, with the game getting more physical in the playoffs, it seems he has also ramped up his aggressiveness on the court and Siakam isn’t too pleased about it.
Siakam went to the free-throw line 15 times during that game and made 13 of those, a large factor in getting this win for the Raptors and getting his own 34 points. The fact that he got more free throws than both Joel Embiid and James Harden is quite surprising, the two usually draw more fouls than any other players in the NBA.
Embiid has never been one to shy away from confrontation, especially on the court, so it’s not likely that he will take these words from Siakam too well. With the Raptors hanging by a thread in this series heading back to Philadelphia, they better hope that Siakam’s words don’t light a fire under Embiid.
