bebopdeluxe wrote:Courtside wrote:bebopdeluxe wrote:
This ties in nicely with the "the refs are screwing us" narrative that so many (but not all ) Raptors embrace:
"The refs are screwing us"
"Embiid hurt Barnes intentionally"
It is so pathetic.
In last season's playoffs, some scrub on the Wizards undercut Embiid on his way to the basket - which was what caused his torn meniscus. Sixers fans didn't go on a f'k'n non-stop-pity party about it. Stuff happens. Nut the f up and move on.
Embiid did not intentionally attempt to hurt Barnes. No one seriously believes this. He could have easily rolled his own glass ankle on that play, so we know he won't ever deliberately step on another player.
That said, he is awfully clumsy and reckless for a guy his size, which is actually dangerous on the floor. He tries to play physical and use his size advantage, but is often a bull in a china shop, and has terrible feet and balance, and so he deliberately falls to save himself from further injury, but that's a risk to others also. I'm surprised he doesn't cause more injuries, really.
Now here I will throw Raptors fans a bone. Embiid is not as "clumsy" as he looks. I do think he sometimes thinks he is AI or DWade and gets all twisted up, but some of those falls are either 1) trying not to hurt himself even more or 2) embellishing legitimate contact to get to the line (aka FLOPPING).
There. I said it. Embiid embellishes sometimes to get to the line. Welcome to the NBA.
Having said all that, Embiid has so much "Dream Shake" and "Euro Step" in his game that to call him "clumsy" seems a bit silly. What other 7-footer in the NBA combines strength and agility the way Embiid does? Huh?
That is why guys like KD - the players who KNOW - believe that Embiid is the most dominant offensive player in the NBA, and why he should be the MVP. Because he is so highly skilled. There is this great GIF that is circulating on the internet this morning of the look of FVV and the rest of the bench after Embiid hit that 3 right next to them. It is funny as f, but again just points out how skilled Embiid is. No other big (with the possible exception of Jokic) is fluid and athletic enough to hit that shot. And that wasn't a prayer. That was skill.
Embiid is hardly a clumsy oaf or a "runaway train" that is reckless.
See, that is the crazy part of it all. He is so supremely skilled when he has room to operate and is not clumsy in those situations, but even the slightest bit of contact and he seems unable to keep his balance. That flop just before the half when bkth he and Harden hit the floor, nobody touched him anywhere up high where you'd think his balance would be affected, but his feet were awkwardly planted as he was slowing himself after shoving Achiuwa, and then Harden's foot slides into the side of Embiid's foot, and that send him sprawling? Who loses their balance so easily?
He and Jokic are veru close to the same size and weight, and both have a more limber build rather than musclebound, yet one takes all kinds of tbe same contact without falling all over the place, while the other, well... there's countless examples of Embiid falling in every single game. Any contact throws him entirely off kilter and then he further tries to sell that contact for fouls.
IMO, this is something that the referees should not reward him for. If he's a big guy and creates much of the contact that he ultimately has to fall down for (as ler doctor's orders), then it's not entirely fair to levee his opponents with fouls, where that same amount of contact with just about any other player - even those much smaller than Embiid - result in no calls and much fewer falls. He's essentially being rewarded for being a big awkward baby out there who can't keep his balance, which isn't the fault of opposing players who are simply trying to match the physicality he brings to them - something that the rules allow as long as it's clean (as many of these plays were).
