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Philadelphia 76ers coach Doc Rivers has called on the NBA to stamp out the growing trend of star performers being taunted and provoked by opposition players. Rivers was speaking in defence of Joel Embiid, who was guilty of kicking out at Brooklyn Nets\u2019 Nic Claxton during their first-round Playoff series.<\/p>\n
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Embiid kicked at Claxton after the Nets centre stood over him less than three minutes into Game 3, with Embiid being hit with a flagrant foul on the play and Claxton getting a technical foul for taunting his opponent. Claxton would later get a second technical \u2013 and with it an ejection \u2013 for taunting Embiid after a dunk early in the fourth quarter<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the league is setting up a very dangerous precedent right now, and this is not me campaigning, and I\u2019m dead serious,\u201d said Rivers. \u201cIf we\u2019re going to start punishing the retaliators, and not the instigators, then we\u2019ve got a problem in this league.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rivers argues that players like Embiid need to be protected from being repeatedly targeted by opponents throughout games.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been a player, and this is a players\u2019 league, and I am 100 percent pro-player,\u201d Rivers said. \u201cI think players should play in games. We talk all year about fans not being happy about guys not playing, and now we\u2019re taking guys out of the playoffs. I don\u2019t believe in the past stuff either. They take away all your techs at the end of the season, right? And you start over. Then you should start over with that stuff, too.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I\u2019m at a park, and I\u2019m going to make this point, and you stood over me? We\u2019re going to have a problem. I didn\u2019t grow up in the sticks-and-stones era, I grew up in the break-the-bones era, so it\u2019s a little different. Having said that, these guys know they can do it because most likely you can\u2019t do anything. I\u2019m not picking on Claxton, but I don\u2019t think at a park he\u2019s standing over Joel. But when you\u2019ve got the ref and everybody else there, you know nothing is going to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n
Expecting more physical treatment for Philadelphia stars such as Embiid and James Harden going forward in the Playoffs, Rivers added: \u201cWe definitely have to be ready and handle that stuff better as a group and we just have to know. Joel is probably the main guy, but it was all game if you watch it.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey were bumping him, they were hitting him, they were holding him, and it was allowed. The lesser guys, they never get that. No one is doing that to them. So we\u2019re asking our stars to turn their heads a whole bunch more than they can at times.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo it\u2019s a tough one for the league. I think they\u2019re in a tough spot. But I do think if you start it and you\u2019re going to suspend [a player retaliating], you should suspend the other guy, too. You created it? You go, too. So if you want to do that, you\u2019re putting yourself in a chance if the guy does respond, where you can go, too. I think we have to come up with something like that.\u201d<\/p>\n
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