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After a 50-game absence during the regular season, Mitchell Robinson is dealing with another left ankle injury that could sideline him during the New York Knicks‘ playoff run.
The star defender saw his ankle take on 280 pounds of pressure as Joel Embiid fell on it after making a shot in the second quarter.
Embiid was called for a Flagrant 1 foul.
Robinson hobbled through the remainder of the second quarter before being ruled out of the game at halftime. New York announced he would not return due to an ankle sprain on their public relations Twitter account.
It’s the same ankle that sidelined him 50 games during the regular season, which is cause for concern, to say the least.
Head coach Tom Thibodeau had five words for an update on the Knicks big man postgame.
“Haven’t talked to medical yet,” Thibodeau told Kris Pursiainen.
Robinson finished Game 3 with 2 points and 7 rebounds in 11 minutes played, and a +7 plus-minus, the team’s best mark.
Embiid posted an 18-point third quarter on his way to a 50-point finish as the Philadelphia 76ers took Game 3 on April 25.
Amir Norman of SNY reported postgame that Robinson left the game in a walking boot.
So the series will go to at least Game 5 for the New York Knicks. How far they’ll have to go without Mitchell Robinson is to be determined.
Fans React to Embiid’s Foul
Arguably no fanbase is more passionate than the New York faithful. And they made sure their voices were heard following the loss in Game 3.
Specifically regarding the Flagrant One call on Embiid.
Josh Rodriguez (@Josh_Rodriguez_ on Twitter) feels things would not have turned out the same if it had been Robinson who fouled the reigning MVP.
“If Mitchell Robinson did to Joel Embiid what Joel Embiid did to him,” Rodrigueztweeted on April 25. “He not only would be thrown out the game, but he’d be suspended for AT LEAST Game 4…I don’t wanna hear a damn thing from Sixers fans about refs anymore”
Comedian and longtime Knicks fan Sam Morril (@sammorril on Twitter) says that there’s a reason you don’t see Giannis Anteotkounmpo or Nikola Jokic caught in such controversial plays.
“I respect Joel Embiid’s talent and greatness as a player,” Morril tweeted postgame. “But this is a disgrace. This is after he kicked Hartenstein in the balls. You don’t see Jokic or Giannis doing this bc this isn’t how winners conduct themselves. Embiid is Draymond with a jumper, zero rings and more crying.”
Kazeem Famuyide (@Kazeem on Twitter) writes that Embiid’s flagrant may have cost New York their best defensive answer for the 76ers star.
“Embiid was completely reckless that first quarter” Famuyide tweeted. “And it might have quite literally cost the Knicks their best answer to him defensively. Unbelievable player, but that first quarter was so blatant.”
Fans felt it should have been a Flagrant Two call, worthy of an ejection or subsequent suspension.
The response from NBA officials likely won’t appeal to them, either.
Zarba: ‘The Crew Was Unanimous’
Following the third game of the New York, Philadelphia series, lead official Zach Zarba was asked about the controversial foul play.
He told Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer that the ruling was a unanimous one among officials.
“In that situation, the crew gets together, we go and review the foul,” Zarba told Pompey for the NBA’s official Pool Report on April 26. “In this instance, the crew was unanimous along with the replay center official in Secaucus that this foul was unncessary but did not rise to the level of a flagrant 2. The unnecessary contact rose to the level of a flagrant 1 but we were unanimous that this did not rise to the level of excessive contact, unnecessary and excessive, which would have been a flagrant 2 ejection. That’s why we kept it a flagrant 1.”
In other words, it is what it is, until it isn’t.
Mitchell Robinson’s status for Game 4 is up in air, but you’d be hard pressed to find a New York Knicks fan who thinks he’ll be back for the next matchup at Wells Fargo Center.
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