Joel Embiid has a lot of reasons to be upset right now. He missed the first two games of the 76ers 2nd round series against the Miami Heat because of an elbow to the face by Pascal Siakam at the end of Game 6 in the first round.
That elbow is the reason why he’s wearing a mask now and is the reason why the 76ers’ playoff hopes have been hampered a bit in the first place. And the elbow didn’t even have to happen.
But Embiid doesn’t seem to be mad about it at all. He was asked about it after his return to the lineup in Game 3 against the Heat and he still says Pascal Siakam is “my guy.”
But who he does seem to be mad at are the Raptors fans that cheered after he was injured.
Joel Embiid with a very long, thoughtful answer about Pascal Siakam’s elbow, the reaction to it in Toronto as it happened, and the interactions between players and fans in the crowd in general these days: pic.twitter.com/mAy3mqjdLN
— Tim Bontemps (@TimBontemps) May 7, 2022
“I don’t think [Pascal] meant to do it. But, you know, I was more irritated by the perception of when that happened by really the fans. And I’ve always thought they have great fans, but I kind of changed my mind about, you know, the fans up there.”
Embiid has good reason to feel that way. After he took that elbow from Siakam, fans in Toronto were cheering about it because he’d done an airplane celebration on the possession before.
Up 29 with 4 minutes remaining in Game 6, Embiid caught an elbow from Pascal Siakam that broke his face while Raptors fans cheered and their commentator said “You get what you deserve.”
Embiid also suffered a mild concussion and will be out indefinitely. pic.twitter.com/qRXJz58gtI
— Did The Sixers Win? (@DidTheSixersWin) April 30, 2022
It was a bad scene all around but hearing fans cheer like that is certainly not what you’d like to see after someone gets elbowed in the face.
This isn’t indicative of the entire Raptors’ fan base, obviously. But this certainly isn’t a good look for Raptors fans at all. It reminds you of the 2019 Finals when they cheered after Kevin Durant’s injury as well. And that turned out to be a torn Achilles tendon.
Obviously, Raptors fans didn’t know Embiid was hurt in this manner. But still. Cheering for physical violence like this in the middle of a basketball game is completely out of bounds.
Embiid is absolutely right to feel the way he does. Fans need to chill out.
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