Eric Bledsoe Says He Was Tipped Before Game About Nerlens Noel’s Hard Foul

Last night Nerlens Noel dropped Eric Bledsoe to the hardwood not more than 30 seconds into the Suns-76ers game in Philadelphia. This came after Bledsoe had said his alum, Kentucky, could beat the 0-12 Sixers in a seven-game series. It was an embarrassing proclamation, even if some believe there’s some truth to his belief. Well, it seems Bledsoe knew the hard foul was coming since a 76ers player tipped him off about it before the game began.

Here’s the play in question and the aftermath one more time:

Associated Press writer Dan Gelston tweeted out some comments that make it clear Bledsoe knew the hack by Noel was coming before the game even began:

We think Suns coach Jeff Hornacek, is right, though:

The Suns won, 122-96, and Bledsoe had 13 points (5/8), seven assists and five rebounds in less than 22 minutes of action. Noel had a single field goal in his lone attempt during over 27 minutes of action in the blowout loss — Philadelphia’s twelfth straight to start the 2014-15 season.

If a Sixers player tipped Bledsoe to Noel’s plan before the game, and it certainly seems to be the case, it doesn’t speak highly of Philadelphia’s cohesion in the locker room. All that losing can fray even the most tightly stitched teams.

It’s insulting to the Sixers to even consider that Kentucky might beat them — they wouldn’t, and a hypothetical series would be a 4-0 cakewalk. So we understand why Noel was pissed and why he fouled Bledsoe the way he did. But a real message would have been to beat the crap out of the Suns, and the Sixers couldn’t do that.

Philadelphia is just really bad; not so bad they’d lose to a college team in a seven-game series, but after a little more than three weeks into the season, they’re certainly nearing historic levels of losing. The 2009-10 New Jersey Nets hold the record for most consecutive losses to start a season, with 18.

What do you think?

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