The two Sixers players caused a media firestorm on Saturday.
It’s an incredible time to be a basketball fan as the NBA playfs are now in full swing. On Saturday, the Philadelphia 76ers and the Brooklyn Nets kicked f the postseason. Despite the 76ers being a heavy favorite, they ended up losing against the Nets by a score 11-102. While the loss was a big story, the bigger narrative involved an incident on the bench with Joel Embiid and Amir Johnson. Both players were caught looking at Johnson’s phone in the middle the game, which goes against team and league rules.
Afterward, Embiid explained that Johnson’s daughter is “extremely sick” and that he just wanted to check on her. Johnson followed that up on Sunday, saying she’s actually fine and that he apologized to his teammates.
“I really want to sweep it under the rug, and that’s that,” Johnson said. “I apologized to my teammates and the organization, and I hate that there was so much attention on the cellphone. We’re focused on Game 2. Like I said, this situation, you just kind want to move it to the side. There’s so many media outlets and situations about that cellphone, and I hate that it ever happened.”
The Sixers will have a chance to tie up their series tonight at 8 P.M. EST in Philadelphia.