Joel Embiid was back out on the court with his 76ers teammates celebrating a home win over the Spurs — the 76ers fifth win in seven games — but had to sneak out to be there because he had been ejected during a wild second quarter.
Embiid was called for a charge after getting the ball out above the arc and driving right into Victor Wembanyama. While it seemed a pretty clear foul on the 76ers big man, Embiid was apoplectic after the call, ran over to referee Jenna Schroeder and got in her face, which led to a technical, he didn’t stop and a second technical came pretty quickly and he was ejected.
The context for this came earlier in the quarter, when backup 76ers big man Andre Drummond was given a technical for pushing Wembanyama to the ground during a baseline out-of-bounds play. Then things got strange: A few seconds later Wembanyama fell again, apparently tripping over Drummond’s foot, but Schroeder saw it differently at first and ejected Drummond. Sixers head coach Nick Nurse lost it and, upon review, the officials rescinded the second call and ejection.
Philadelphia went on to win 111-106 behind 32 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists from Tyrese Maxey and 19 points from Paul George. That’s when Embiid came back out to celebrate.
Embiid can expect a fine from the league office.
The 76ers get a stiffer test in their next game, against the Celtics on Christmas Day.
