Craig Carton says Joel Embiid is the ‘dirtiest player in the NBA not named Draymond Green’

Craig Carton of Fox Sports said that Philadelphia 76ers star big man Joel Embiid is the dirtiest player in the NBA outside of Draymond Green after Embiid committed a dangerous foul on New York Knicks player Mitchell Robinson in Game 3 by grabbing his leg.

“Joel Embiid’s the dirtiest player in the NBA not named Draymond Green,” Carton said. “He kicked Isaiah Hartenstein in the balls. He kicked Mitchell Robinson in the balls. And then laying prone on the ground, with Mitchell Robinson in midair, he grabbed his calf and pulled him down.”

Green, while one of the better defensive players of his generation, has a history of controversial behavior and actions on the court. He was handed a lengthy suspension after striking Phoenix Suns center Jusuf Nurkic in the face during the 2023-24 regular season.

Embiid received a flagrant foul for what he did to Robinson — who might’ve suffered an ankle injury as a result of the play — but was not ejected from the contest.

The 30-year-old had arguably the best playoff game of his NBA career so far in Game 3. He dropped a playoff career-high 50 points while shooting 13-of-19 from the floor and 5-of-7 from 3-point range.

Embiid’s dominant scoring night helped propel the 76ers to their first win since the start of the 2024 NBA Playoffs. Philadelphia has a prime chance to tie the series up at two games, too, considering Game 4 will also take place at Wells Fargo Center on Sunday afternoon.

The Cameroonian has played as well as any player in the NBA in the playoffs. Across three games played, he is averaging 37.7 points, 8.7 rebounds and 5.3 assists per contest while shooting 47.1 percent from the field and 37.5 percent from deep.

The former first-round draft pick has scored 29 points or more in every game of the 76ers-Knicks series to this point.

Embiid will try to emulate his Game 3 scoring performance in Sunday’s Game 4. The 76ers might need him to have another huge offensive game in order to even up this series up, as Philadelphia won by just 11 points on Thursday night.

While Embiid’s foul on Robinson in Game 3 was seemingly reckless, it’s up for debate whether it was intentional or dirty. Hopefully fans of the Knicks and 76ers won’t see any incidents that lead to injury occur during the remainder of the series.