He went to the locker room toward the end of the first quarter and remained there until shortly before he returned to the game early in the second quarter. It was an eventful night for Embiid and not just because of the initial flagrant foul review. My back, my knee, hitting me every single time. "That's the second time hit me in the back that's not reviewed. I'm too valuable especially after the first, I just understood I'm too valuable to get into this stuff. "The whole game, you could see what they were doing," said Embiid, who finished with 14 points, 10 rebounds and 2 blocks in 38 minutes. However, asked whether he remembered what happened when Claxton was ejected, he said, "Yes," and then smiled. Intentional."Įmbiid was asked several times to recount what happened during the incident with Claxton and repeatedly said he didn't remember. "For a guy to intentionally kick someone in an area that none of us want to be kicked at or towards, for him to continue to play, I've never seen that before in a game and a guy continues to play. "I don't think I've ever seen that in my career before," Vaughn said. Nets coach Jacque Vaughn vehemently disagreed, twice saying Embiid intentionally kicked Claxton and that he had never seen a player stay in a game after such an incident. "The contact was deemed unnecessary and based on the point of contact to the leg, it didn't rise to the level of excessive," Brothers said in describing why Embiid was given only a flagrant 1. That technical would prove to be important later, as Claxton was ejected early in the fourth quarter after throwing down a dunk over Embiid and then staring him down again, causing Brothers to immediately give him a second technical and eject him. While Embiid was lying on the ground, Nets center Nic Claxton stepped over Embiid and stared him down.Įmbiid responded by kicking up at Claxton's midsection, appearing to catch him on the back of the leg.Īfter a lengthy review, Embiid received a flagrant foul 1 and remained in the game, while Claxton was hit with a technical. The decision on the Harden play was magnified by the ruling on a play involving the 76ers' other superstar, Joel Embiid, less than three minutes into the game. In particular, Harden succeeded in his forays to the rim, going 5-for-8 on 2-point shots after going a combined 2-for-13 on those attempts during the first two games. He finished with 21 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists in 29 minutes and was Philadelphia's most consistent offensive performer when he was on the court. "Based on the point of contact directly to the groin, it rose to the level of excessive and ejection," Brothers said.īefore his ejection, Harden was playing his best basketball of the series. Monty McCutchen, the NBA's senior vice president of referee development and training, said in an in-game interview on TNT that the officials determined it was "excessive and unnecessary" contact to the groin.Īfter the game, crew chief Tony Brothers reiterated that stance in a pool report. There was no windup, elbow, I didn't hit him in the private area, none of that." "Somebody is draped on me, your natural reaction is to use your off arm to get him off a little bit, and that was it. "I didn't think it was a foul on me," Harden said. It can't happen."Īsked whether he received an explanation from the officials, Harden said he did not, and then went on to explain why he didn't believe it was even an offensive foul - let alone one that rose to the level of a flagrant 2, and with it an ejection. Honestly, I didn't think it was a foul on me. We've seen around the league, things are much worse than what that play was. I didn't hit him hard enough for him to fall down like that. Somebody is draped on you like that defensively, that's a natural basketball reaction. I'm not labeled as a dirty player and I didn't hit him in a private area. "Unacceptable," Harden said in the locker room afterward. NEW YORK - Philadelphia 76ers star James Harden repeatedly said it was "unacceptable" that he was called for a flagrant foul 2 on Brooklyn Nets forward Royce O'Neale and ejected late in the third quarter of Philadelphia's 102-97 victory in Game 3 of their first-round playoff series Thursday night, one of several hotly contested moments involving the referees throughout the game. James Harden ejected, Joel Embiid gets flagrant 1 in Sixers' win You have reached a degraded version of because you're using an unsupported version of Internet Explorer.įor a complete experience, please upgrade or use a supported browser
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