NEW YORK — Laboring throughout the game and perhaps lucky to not have been ejected for kicking a Nets player in the groin area, Joel Embiid told himself he had to stay on the floor.
Even if the Nets kept hitting him or trying to make him lose his cool, he needed to be there for his Philadelphia 76ers.
"You could see what the game plan was. Got to hit him, try to make me frustrated so I could get ejected," Embiid said. "So, I'm too mature to put myself in a position where I'm going to be ejected, so I just went about my business and we got the win.