Philadelphia 76ers star James Harden returning to Brooklyn. The underdog Brooklyn Nets looking to make this a first-round series after losing the first two games in Philadelphia.
There were several storylines leading up to Game 3 of this Eastern Conference Playoff series inside Barclays Center Thursday night.
Instead, respected crew chief Tony Brothers and the rest of the officials on hand in the Big Apple took center stage as things got chippy big time in what ended up being a 102-97 Philadelphia 76ers win.
It started within the first 2:30 minutes of the first quarter when Nets center Nic Claxton dunked over likely NBA MVP Joel Embiid. The latter opted to kick Claxton in the groin area. Pretty much everyone inside Barclays believed Embiid was headed for a Flagrant 2 and an early shower. Instead, Brothers and Co. slapped him with a mere Flagrant 1.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen that in my career before, for a guy to intentionally kick someone in an area that none of us want to be kicked at, and for him to continue to play. I’ve never seen that before. Intentionally,” Brooklyn Nets head coach Jacque Vaughn on Embiid.
This was a harbinger of things to come for the zebras in what was a high-octane playoff matchup between these two Eastern Conference rivals.
Late in the third quarter, James Harden was called for a foul after his elbow made contact with Royce O’Neale’s midsection. After reviewing the foul, officials declared that it was a Flagrant 2 and ejected Harden from what was then a four-point game.
Things played out with both teams trading proverbial jabs. That included Embiid being called for a charge, his fifth foul of the game, with 5:20 remaining and the Philadelphia 76ers down 90-87. Surprisingly, 76ers head coach Doc Rivers opted against challenging the foul call. It obviously had an impact on a player in Embiid who finished this game with a mere 14 points.
Great NBA Playoff game between Philadelphia 76ers, Brooklyn Nets marred by officiating
As all of this was happening, Nets star center Nic Claxton was ejected for receiving his second technical of the game with 8:48 remaining in the fourth quarter. It came with the Nets up six and was due to the young man taunting for a second time in the game.
You can be the judge there. But objectively, how can a player of Claxton’s ilk be tossed from a playoff game for something like this?
Claxton had played Embiid well, scoring 18 points with four rebounds on 8-of-9 shooting at the time of the ejection. As noted above, Embiid finished with a mere 14 points. Whistles dictating the outcome of what was an absolutely stellar game between the Nets and 76ers is a bad look.
Tyrese Maxey scoring 10 consecutive points late in the fourth quarter to put his 76ers in position for a 3-0 series lead should have been the lead storyline out of Brooklyn. Maxey is among the best young players in the game. He stepped up with Harden ejected and Embiid struggling. Embiid putting up the game-clinching block of Spencer Dinwiddie should have been the other top storyline.
Unfortunately, most of the postgame talk surrounded the officiating. It has already been an all-too common theme less than a week into the 2023 NBA Playoffs. And it must change moving forward.