Jared Dudley has no regrets for instigating a fracas that resulted in he and Jimmy Butler being ejected from Game 4. In fact, the Brooklyn Nets forward apparently wishes he would have shoved Joel Embiid even harder.
“If anything, I should have got him worse,” Dudley told Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News.
After Embiid took a hard foul on Nets big man Jarrett Allen in the third quarter, Dudley rushed in to push the Philadelphia 76ers superstar, sparking a fracas between Philadelphia and Brooklyn that ultimately left he and Butler in a heap on the baseline, just in front of the first row at Barclays Center. After video review of the incident, Dudley and Butler were sent packing, while Embiid was assessed with a flagrant foul – a call he took exception with on the postgame podium because, as he sees it, he made contact with the ball while swiping down at Allen.
Dudley, of course, disagreed with Embiid's take on the foul that sparked all the pushing and shoving, and also believes the officiating crew overreacted to the entire incident.
“I thought it was a hard foul on Embiid,” he said, per Michael Scotto of The Athletic. “I thought he hit a little bit of the arm, the ball and thought the follow through kind of hit [Allen] on the head or hit him on like his neck area and fell down.
“It should've been a double tech [on he and Butler], if you want, do a flagrant on both,” Dudley continued. “For them to eject not only Jimmy but myself is just ridiculous. No punches were thrown. No one acted, no one said anything crazy out there .It was a good playoff push on my part, and then we go our separate ways.”
The Sixers, buoyed by a dominant performance from Embiid despite nagging pain in his left knee, beat the Nets 112-108, taking a 3-1 lead in the teams' first-round series. Game 5 is on Tuesday at Wells Fargo Center.
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