Sixers’ Joel Embiid shares his side of kick on Nic Claxton, yet another strange playoff night
NEW YORK Though Thursdays Game 3 matchup between the Sixers and Nets was extreme in its animosity-infused drama, the night was in no way unprecedented.
After the Sixers scrapped past Brooklyn to take a 3-0 lead in their first-round playoff series, head coach Doc Rivers provided that perspective when asked whether hed ever been part of a similar game.
Uh, yeah. I played for the Knicks, he said. Go watch Phoenix-Knicks.
Rivers joked that 70 people were ejected on the 1993 night in Phoenix that he strongly objected to Kevin Johnson’s blindside shoulder. In Game 3 at Barclays Center, a mere two players James Harden and Nic Claxton were tossed.
Controversially, Joel Embiid was not one of them. For kicking out at Claxton in the first quarter after the Nets center stood over him, Embiid only received a Flagrant 1 foul.
The contact was deemed unnecessary, crew chief Tony Brothers told pool reporter Brian Mahoney of The Associated Press, and based on the point of contact to the leg, it didnt rise to the level of excessive.
As the officials examined the play, Rivers was not compelled to do the same.
I never looked up. I swear to God, I didnt want to look up, he said. To this point, Ive yet to see it. The game was not going well. Im not superstitious, but I swear to God, I never looked up. I havent seen it yet. I thought, the way this thing is going, anything can happen.
Embiids recollection of the play was more dubious than his coach’s.
I dont know. I dont remember, he said with a sly smile. Were up 3-0. We move on. It takes me a lot to process a game after that type of fight, so Ive got to go watch the tape, see what we can do better, what I can do better. Im just happy we got the win.
Did Embiid remember Claxtons ejection early in the fourth quarter for being assessed a second technical foul?
Um … yes, he said with a laugh.
The whole game, you could see what they were doing just trying to get a rise out of me. Especially after the first one, I just understood Im too valuable to get into this stuff. Hitting me in the back, thats not reviewed. My back, my knee, hitting me every single time, which is fine. Its working for them, but just got to keep going.
You could see what the game plan was: Got to hit them. Got to make me frustrated so I could get ejected. Im too mature to put myself in the position where Im going to get ejected. So Im glad I just went about my business and we got the win.
The Sixers have shown this season that theyre capable of winning in many ways; they were even 11-5 in the regular-season games Embiid missed. But a playoff victory in which the NBAs back-to-back scoring champion scores 14 points on 5-for-13 shooting and Harden gets rather perplexingly ejected obviously does not follow any kind of pre-established blueprint.
Strangeness has been central to Embiids career, though. Ahead of Sixers-Nets Game 3 in the 2019 playoffs, Boban Marjanovics pregame yoga routine made the visiting locker room feel tiny and Embiid talked about the left knee injury that hampered him throughout the second half of that season.
He sat that night and Greg Monroe started. Marjanovic scored 14 points off the bench. Ben Simmons had 31 points, Tobias Harris 29 and JJ Redick 26 in the Sixers victory. Embiid suited up for Game 4 and was tremendous in a win that featured Jared Dudley and Jimmy Butlers ejections and Mike Scotts clutch three-pointer.
On Thursday, there were again clear reasons for concern with Embiids health. He appeared to shake off head athletic trainer Kevin Johnson after grabbing at his right knee and limping to the sidelines for a timeout in the third quarter.
Im OK, Embiid said. Took a lot of shots today, but Im fine.
However he truly felt, Embiid had enough in his legs to deliver a giant block in the final seconds on Spencer Dinwiddies game-tying layup try.
Coming down, I was tracking him the whole time, Embiid said. I knew he was going to do not something stupid, but I knew he was going to try to be aggressive in that situation. I was tracking him down the whole time and as soon as I saw him drive, I just figured he was kind of past his man and he had a layup.
The whole playoffs, I think Ive been pretty good defensively, but usually, in the fourth quarters, I even take it to another level. I just saw it and decided to attack it. I got lucky and got the block.
Whatever stories Embiid chooses to tell about Thursday night, the Sixers have a 3-0 advantage and a chance to sweep the Nets on Saturday afternoon.
And when Embiid is Rivers age, perhaps hell have different memories about April 20, 2023.
