Philadelphia 76ers head coach Doc Rivers defended star player Joel Embiid on Friday and said Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green should not have been suspended with his Sixers winning 3-0 in their playoff series.
Embiid was called a flagrant foul 1 in Philadelphia’s Game 3 win over the Brooklyn Nets after kicking Nets center Nic Clacton who was standing on Embiid and was fouled with a technical.
Joel Embiid, number 21 of the Philadelphia 76ers, reacts to referee Nick Buchert, number 3, against the Brooklyn Nets during the first half of game three of the Eastern Conference first round playoffs at Barclays Center on April 20. 2023, in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. (Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images)
Rivers told reporters Friday that the NBA needs to do something about players who try to incite stars to retaliate.
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«I’m going to say this, and I probably shouldn’t: I didn’t think dramond [Green] he should have been suspended,» Rivers said Friday, according to ESPN. “And I think the league is setting a very dangerous precedent right now, and this is not me campaigning, and I mean it. . . . If we’re going to start punishing the retaliators and not the instigators, then we have a problem in this league.»
Green was suspended by the league for Game 3 of golden state series against the Kings after stepping on the chest of Domantas Sabonis in the fourth quarter of Game 2.
Draymond Green, #23 of the Golden State Warriors, runs past Domantas Sabonis, #10 of the Sacramento Kings, in the second half during the second game of the Western Conference first round playoffs at the Golden 1 Center on April 17, 2023, in Sacramento, California, USA. Green was fouled flagrantly 2 on the play and was ejected from the game. (Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
Green stomped on Sabonis after the striker of kings he grabbed Green’s leg as he tried to run back onto the court.
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Rivers said that players must be protected from being attacked by opponents during games.
«I’ve been a player, and this is a player’s league, and I’m 100 percent professional,» Rivers said. «I think players should play in games. We’ve talked all year about fans not being happy with guys not playing, and now we’re taking guys out of the playoffs. I don’t believe in things from the past either. all». your technicians at the end of the season, right? And you start again. Then you should start over with those things too… Draymond Green stepped on a guy’s chest because he was holding his foot. The instigator was holding his foot.»
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In the NBA Playoffs, once a player accumulates four flagrant foul pointsthe league issues an automatic one-game suspension.
Head coach Doc Rivers of the Philadelphia 76ers reacts during the game against the Brooklyn Nets during the first half of game three of the Eastern Conference first round playoffs at Barclays Center on April 20, 2023 in the District of Brooklyn in New York City. (Sarah Stier/Getty Images)
«If I’m in a park, and I’m going to make this point, and you step on me? We’re going to have a problem. I didn’t grow up in the age of sticks and stones, I grew up in the age of breaking bones, so it’s a little different,» Rivers said, according to ESPN. «Having said that, these guys know they can do it, because chances are you can’t do anything. I’m not messing with Claxton, but I don’t think in a park he’s standing over Joel. But when you have you have the ref and everyone the others there, you know nothing is going to happen.
Claxton was later ejected from the game after receiving a technical foul in the fourth quarter for taunting Embiid.