It’s not often that Joel Embiid has much to complain about when it comes to the refereeing, he was the leading free-throw shooter during the regular season after all. However, when teams and players struggle, often the referees get blamed, and that seemed to be the case after the Sixers failed to sweep the Toronto Raptors on Saturday night, dropping Game 4 and giving some life to their opponents.
Embiid attempted only 9 free throws against the Raptors in Game 4, less than both Siakam and his teammate, James Harden. It was a poor shooting night for the big man as well, so his frustration with the situation is quite understandable. Siakam also called him out after the game for what he described as some ‘dirty plays’. Clearly, neither side was too happy with the officiating.
“I’m going to take my own advice and not complain about fouls you know, like I was doing at the end of the game. They did a great job. I admired the job that they did today. To me, it felt like they had one job coming in here tonight, and they got it done. So congrats to them.”
This was clearly a veiled insult from Embiid, who seemingly insinuated that the referees officiated the game in a way that helped the outcome of the game come out in the Raptors’ favor. Considering that the big man has previously called out Nick Nurse for complaining about the officiating, it does seem a bit rich of him to turn around and say this.
It shouldn’t mean too much, the Sixers are still very much in control of the series, going back to their home arena up 3-1. Another win will see them comfortably through to the next round, where they will face the winner of the hard-fought series between the Miami Heat and the Atlanta Hawks.
