Key details on last night's game:
- Joel Embiid (Flagrant 1) and James Harden (Flagrant 2) each received flagrant fouls.
- Harden (Flagrant 2) and Nic Claxton (two technical fouls) were both ejected.
- 10-straight fourth quarter points by Tyrese Maxey led the Sixers to victory.
BROOKLYN – The Philadelphia 76ers secured a 102-97 comeback win over the Brooklyn Nets on Thursday night, taking a commanding 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven first-round series.
But that's not what most are talking about today.
Tony Brothers and crew lost control of the script pretty early on last night, and remained dedicated to getting every call wrong throughout the course of the game, with three dubious decisions which all had significant ramifications on the outcome of what was, for the most part, a poorly played game of basketball by both teams.
The party started barely more than two minutes into last night's game, when the Nets connected on lob to Nic Claxton. Embiid went to the ground after failing to deflect the pass, because falling to the ground is a favorite pastime for Embiid. Claxton, feeling frisky because he upped his field goal percentage on lob attempts to an estimated 12.5% on the series, stepped over Embiid, who retaliated by kicking Claxton near the nether regions.
Let's be clear right from the jump: Embiid's night should have been over right there.
Some, perhaps many, will object to that, I would argue mostly because they root for the team that Embiid plays for. Some may push back on that, but I think deep down they know that it's true. If Nic Claxton had kicked Embiid in that way they'd want a Flagrant 2 and a suspension, and would settle for nothing less.
