Knicks’ Tom Thibodeau again calls out refs over Joel Embiid right before Game 4

New York Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau isn’t letting up on the officials heading into to Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals on Saturday afternoon. A couple days after Thibodeau refused to defend the referees for not ejecting Joel Embiid after his flagrant foul in Game 3, the frustrated coach took a more aggressive approach.

The Knicks’ boss called them out for sending Embiid to the free-throw line an ungodly amount of times, via ESPN’s Tim Bontemps.

“Tom Thibodeau points out, again, that Joel Embiid went to the foul line 21 times in Game 3,” Bontemps tweeted. “Thibodeau made it clear yesterday in his meeting with reporters how he felt the referees handled things in that game.”

Embiid is known for getting calls when he goes up for layups, but a player getting 21 free-throw attempts in one game is uncommon, even in today’s era. The modern NBA may be strict on defensive fouls, but it seemed like the Philadelphia 76ers’ superstar was getting a call every time he had the ball inside.

This was especially frustrating for New York considering how Embiid got a relative slap on the wrist for his flagrant foul on Mitchell Robinson. Many Knicks players thought that the 2023 MVP should’ve been ejected, so when combining this incident with the excessive free throws, it’s easy to see why the team has a chip on its shoulder.