Draymond Green's one-word reaction to Joel Embiid passing his flagrant foul tally in nearly 50% fewer games
Philadelphia 76ers superstar center Joel Embiid has faced criticism for seemingly playing dirty during his team's first-round playoff series against the New York Knicks. Amid his physical postseason play, Embiid racked up more career flagrant fouls than controversial Golden State Warriors veteran forward Draymond Green, who took note.
Embiid has tallied two flagrant fouls through five playoff games this year, most notably his Game 3 Flagrant 1 on Knicks center Mitchell Robinson. After falling to the ground, he pulled Robinson out of the air by the leg. Robinson later missed Game 4 due to a sprained left ankle.
Knicks fans blasted Embiid, with the seven-time All-Star attributing his physicality to trying to match New York's physical brand of playoff basketball.
"Yeah, it was unfortunate, but physical game," Embiid said postgame. "They want to bring physicality. We can be physical too, and we are. So it goes both ways. I get bumped all over the place, and I just keep playing and I'm not going to take it."
For his career, Embiid has accumulated 16 regular-season and eight playoff flagrant fouls, giving him 24 total through 491 games. Meanwhile, Green has amassed 15 regular-season and six playoff flagrant fouls, giving him 21 total through 970 career games.
Thus, Embiid has piled up more flagrant fouls in 479 fewer outings, nearly 50% less than Green. Nonetheless, Green has garnered a reputation for being a dirty player throughout his 12-year career, regularly getting condemned. Meanwhile, Embiid has avoided a similar narrative during most of the last eight seasons.
Green shared the stat on his Instagram stories on Thursday, which ClutchPoints initially posted six days ago, before Embiid's 24th flagrant foul. The four-time NBA champion seemingly alluded to getting treated unfairly, offering a one-word response.
"Hoodwinked," Green wrote.
However, Green didn't offer any further commentary, leaving it up to fans and analysts to decide whether his dirty player reputation is undeserved.
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Draymond Green has significantly more technical fouls and ejections than Joel Embiid
While Draymond Green brought attention to Joel Embiid having more flagrant fouls, it's probably worth noting Green's considerable edge in technical fouls and ejections.
Green has accrued 181 technical fouls and 21 career ejections, while Embiid has only 65 technical fouls and one career ejection.
So, while Embiid has taken more unnecessarily hard fouls, Green has displayed erratic behavior, particularly toward officials, far more often.
Thus, it's debatable which player is more deserving of criticism.
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