It will never be known how much Evan Mobley's charge drawn to Joel Embiid would have impacted Wednesday night's battle between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Philadelphia 76ers.
What would have been Embiid's sixth and final infraction with 4:12 left in the game was overturned via Doc Rivers's coach's challenge, and Embiid would remain active for the rest of Phila's 118-109 road victory.
The Sixers were up, 108-101, when Embiid moved down the top of the key and made contact with Mobley, who landed on his back as a referee blew the whistle. However, as Embiid pleaded with officials and Rivers used his challenge, the call would be checked for a few minutes before being officially overturned, which did not please members of the Cavs - least of all, head coach J.B. Bickerstaff.
"He drew a great charge," Bickerstaff commented on Mobley during Wednesday's postgame presser. "It's clear as day that's a charge. There's no doubt about it. The call was made on the floor. He stands between him and the basket. [Embiid] lowered the shoulder. I thought Evan competed and laid it all out on the line. Guys ought to be rewarded for that. If you're willing to stick your nose in there [and] sacrifice your body, you ought to be rewarded for the correct play."
Bickerstaff would continue on the subject of Embiid's would-be foul, describing what officials explained to him following the reversal.
"They said there wasn't enough contact to be a charge," Bickerstaff scoffed. "There's a 300-pound man that bulls through your chest, it's a charge. It's that simple."
Embiid, officially listed at 280 pounds, had been dominating the Cavs at the rim and on the glass, and would finish with a game-high 36 points and 18 rebounds to lead a Sixers comeback, which included an 18-1 scoring run during the third quarter. With Jarrett Allen out with an eye injury, Mobley was tasked with battling a league MVP candidate on both ends of the floor, with Embiid's four more seasons and nearly 70 extra pounds to the sophomore's disadvantage.
"It felt like he battled tonight," Caris LeVert complimented Mobley after the game. "We knew it would be a team effort, especially with [Allen] out. Evan took the challenge early, and battled him all night. That's a tough matchup for him. He had some tough calls agains him, but he still battled all night."
Cavs guard Donovan Mitchell did not directly place blame on the overturned call, but did state his team should have still finished the job: "It is what it is. We should have won the game...We shouldn't have to rely on hoping that he gets the offensive foul. Was it a foul? We think so. But it wasn't. We should have won the game. It was in our hands, and we didn't capitalize. That's on us."
The Cavs failed to capitalize on 18 turnovers committed by the Sixers, or a 45-19 scoring advantage between the two squads' benches. One player from Cleveland's Wednesday night reserves, LeVert, managed to lead the way with 24 points on an 8-14 field performance - his fourth straight game scoring at least 15 points.
"I'm just trying to be more locked in," LeVert explained. "Playoff time [is] coming, and I know what that entails. So I'm just trying to put myself in that mindset. My teammates give me a lot of confidence each and every night to just be myself, so they make it easy on me."
The Cavs (44-28) will host the Washington Wizards (32-37) on Friday (7:30 p.m. tip-off).
"There's a 300-pound man that bulls through your chest, it's a charge. It's that simple."
