Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid fined $25K for criticizing officials

Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid has been fined $25,000 for public criticism of the officiating, which included the use of inappropriate language, the league announced Wednesday.

Embiid made his comments Tuesday following the 76ers' 112-109 loss to the Boston Celtics at Wells Fargo Center.

"The referees f---ing suck," he said from the podium. Then he turned, walked off the stage, flung open the curtain next to it and walked out.

Embiid was probably responding to a sequence late in the game, when he got the ball in the post with Philadelphia trailing by two with less than 40 seconds remaining. He tried to back Boston's Al Horford down. But when Embiid went up for a shot, he was clearly hit across the arms by Horford and lost the ball -- but no foul was called.

On Wednesday, the league said in its Last Two-Minute Report that the non-call was incorrect. According to the report, Horford "made contact to the arm of Embiid during his shooting motion that affects his shot attempt."

"I knew what I was getting into,'' Embiid said after Wednesday's game against theNew York Knicks. "I haven't seen the Last 2-Minute Report but I did get fouled and everybody knew that. I felt like it changed the outcome of the game. The game could have been tied and I was in the heat of the moment.''

Information from ESPN's Tim Bontemps was used in this report.