PHILADEPHIA — Joel Embiid almost sabotaged his own playoff masterclass in the Philadelphia 76ers' Game 3 win over the New York Knicks. His 50-point performance could have ended in the first quarter after a scary play involving Mitchell Robinson.

After getting knocked to the floor by OG Anunoby, Embiid stood right under Robinson as he received a pass and went up for a dunk. Embiid tried to grab Robinson's legs, managing to get a hold of his right ankle. He fell on Embiid, who promptly pushed him off. The 76ers center was given a flagrant 1 foul on top of the personal foul.

When asked about the physicality of the game, Embiid brought up the play. He said that being on the ground and seeing Robinson jump reminded him of when Golden State Warriors forward Jonathan Kuminga landed on his knee, the incident that sidelined him for months.

“Obviously, Mitchell Robinson jumping and trying to make sure he doesn't land on me because, obviously, we know the history that I have with Kuminga landing on my knee,” Embiid said. “I kind of had some flashbacks when he came down to it. It's unfortunate. I mean, I didn't mean to hurt anybody. I just, in those situations, I gotta protect myself because I've been in way too many situations where I'm always a recipient of the bad end of it.”

“It was unfortunate,” the 76ers center continued. “But, physical game. They want to bring their physicality. We can be physical, too, and we are. So, it goes both ways. I get bumped all over the place and I just keep playing and I'm not gonna take it. I gotta keep my mind and make sure that I don't get outside myself. But, yeah, I just gotta keep being myself, being aggressive and physical.”

Joel Embiid explains flagrant foul on Mitchell Robinson

In the post-game pool report, Crew Chief Zach Zarba explained that the play, in the opinion of all three officials, was not unnecessary and excessive enough to get deemed a flagrant 2 foul.

“In this instance, the crew was unanimous along with the replay center official in Secaucus that this foul was unnecessary but did not rise to the level of a flagrant 2,” Zarba said. “The unnecessary contact rose to the level of a flagrant 1 but we were unanimous that this did not rise to the level of excessive contact, unnecessary and excessive, which would have been a flagrant 2 ejection. That’s why we kept it a flagrant 1.”

In the third quarter, Robinson was ruled out of the game with a left ankle sprain, though it occurred on a play later in the first half. While Embiid's more notable play wasn’t the one that hurt Robinson, Knicks players were understandably not happy about it. Among the terms used to describe it was “dirty,” which was the word of choice from Donte DiVincenzo.

The 76ers and Knicks will square off again on Sunday afternoon in what should be an extremely physical and hard-fought Game 4.