LeBron James Called Out for ‘Dangerous’ Play

The Los Angeles Lakers lost the game to the Philadelphia 76ers, and Joel Embiid has something to say about LeBron James and his dangerous play.

According to recent sources, Embiid is not happy with the officiating in his win over the Lakers. LeBron made contact with Embiid while he was up in the air, so the Sixers veteran fell to the floor. The big man thought the play warranted a flagrant foul 2. However, refs had a different opinion.

“Well, first of all, I mean you look at it, that’s a very dangerous play,” Embiid told media members following the game. “I guarantee you that if it was me, I would have probably been ejected from the game, which has happened in the past with me getting flagrant fouls really for nothing.”

Embiid rushed to mention that he received a flagrant 1 on the other end after elbowing Lakers big man Anthony Davis.

“When you compare that to the one that I got, which I thought I didn’t really hit him, I didn’t elbow him,” Embiid said. “I might have touched him. But I don’t think it deserved the flagrant, if you’re gonna compare those two. Those are tough plays, and I just thought, you know, it should’ve been a flagrant 2.”

LeBron didn’t say much about the foul. However, he did mention that his teammates should have defended Embiid without any fouls.

“Got to do a better job keeping our hands out of the cookie jar, who has Harden-like magic as far as the swipe move and things of that nature,” the king of basketball said.

Rivers reacts to LeBron James and his dangerous play

Philadelphia head coach Doc Rivers had some concerns about Embiid’s health. But, he surprised media members with his postgame comments on LeBron.

“First of all, LeBron’s not a dirty player. It was just a physical play and they had to call the flagrant, I guess,” Rivers said. “You can get a flagrant easy these days. But that fall was hard, and there was some concern there, for sure. The fact that Joel kept going, clearly he wasn’t the same after that, as far as his movement. And we kinda knew that, and we used him a lot in pick and rolls because of that.”

When asked about LeBron James' foul on Joel Embiid, Doc Rivers says LeBron James is not a dirty player, and indicates he thinks all of the flagrant foul calls tonight were excessive. Said Embiid wasn't the same after taking the hard fall on the play, though.

— Tim Bontemps (@TimBontemps) January 28, 2021

Embiid finished the game with 28 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 blocks. LeBron scored 34 points, 6 rebounds, 6 and 6 assists.

Alex Caruso was brilliant in the game and he had a big role in the night.

If you ask LeBron, he will say that Caruso is “kind of a Swiss Army knife.”

Davis scored 23 points, 8 rebounds, and 2 blocks.

Los Angeles is going after the Detroit Pistons on Thursday. It’s another road game for the storied franchise.