Regina King was about six inches away from having to take a rain check on this year’s Academy Awards, after Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid nearly landed on her during a game at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday night.
Here’s what happened: Embiid, while playing against the listless Knicks, ran and leapt after a loose ball headed into the stands. The seven-footer saved the ball but had to immediately jump over King, sitting courtside, and land in the second row — taking out a MSG statistician in the process.
Here’s a slow motion clip, where you can see how close King came to ending up on the injured list:
https://twitter.com/WorldWideWob/status/1095872704195055617
“Yoooo. Thank you God and Joel Embiid for your athletic abilities. Crisis averted,” King tweeted after the game.
Embiid, for his part, was happy he missed taking out King, but acknowledged someone else had to feel the pain.
“It’s good that I saved her life, I guess, but someone else had to, like, take that,” Embiid said, talking about the statistician, according to the BBC. “I’m sorry about that.”
Luckily, King will still be able to attend the Oscars on Feb. 24, where she’s nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her work in “If Beale Street Could Talk.”