Coming off their best win of the season on Christmas Day, Joel Embiid remains confident that the Sixers will continue to hit their stride as the team gets healthier.
The NBA’s higher-ups clearly had a close eye on the league’s Christmas action.
Joe Dumars, the NBA’s vice president, head of basketball operations, announced Friday night that Embiid has been fined $75,000 for “making obscene gestures on the playing court.”
The league’s statement said “the incidents occurred during the first half” of the Sixers’ Christmas victory over the Celtics but did not reference specific plays.
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One apparent possibility is Embiid’s DX-inspired crotch chop celebration after he made an and-one layup with 3:48 left in the first quarter. Another is a less-than-friendly motion toward the TD Garden crowd after he drained a three-pointer at the tail end of the second quarter. (Both gestures are in the final second of the above links.)
Embiid was certainly animated throughout the night and pleased to notch a win in Boston.
Asked about Caleb Martin’s career-high seven made three-pointers, Embiid started by saying, “He’s playing against Boston. He hates them as much as I do. I guess I’ll take it.”
