The Philadelphia 76ers have had a good start to their playoff run, winning their first game against the Toronto Raptors in a blowout 131-111. Joel Embiid finished with 19 points and 15 rebounds.
After the game, Toronto Raptors coach Nick Nurse criticized the officials for how they refereed Joel Embiid. He claimed that “nobody can guard” Joel Embiid if the referees are going to “let him run you over”.
Nick Nurse not happy with the whistle on Embiid. "If we're legal defensively, we've gotta have a call, or we don't have a chance. Nobody can guard that guy if they're gonna let him run you over." Points out beating him to spots & wild elbows.
— Blake Murphy (@BlakeMurphyODC) April 17, 2022
Nick Nurse not happy with the whistle on Embiid. “If we’re [Raptors] legal defensively, we’ve gotta have a call, or we don’t have a chance. Nobody can guard that guy if they’re gonna let him run you over.” Points out beating him to spots & wild elbows.”
Joel Embiid is a player that draws a lot of attention near the rim and thus gets fouled a lot. Joel Embiid attempted 11 free throws against the Toronto Raptors, making 8 of them. That allowed him to finish with the 19 points he got, even though he only went 5-15 from the field.
It is fair to suggest that at times Joel Embiid exaggerates contact to try and get easy shots at the line. Clippers coach Tyronn Lue once claimed that Joel Embiid wouldn’t be a top-10 scorer without his free throws, clearly implying that he relies on them to score. However, there are definitely instances where Joel Embiid does get fouled heavily when posting up.
It remains to be seen if the officials change the way they referee Joel Embiid after Nick Nurse’s complaint. There is no doubt that it is often harder to draw fouls in the playoffs, as the referees allow a higher degree of physicality in the postseason. With that being said, Joel Embiid can be a dominant player without the FT line, and perhaps we’ll see that later on in the series.
