The Philadelphia 76ers beat Brooklyn 102-97 on Thursday in a rugged conflict that featured two ejections and a controversial kick from Joel Embiid and moved the Sixers one win away from a sweep of their NBA first-round playoff collection.
The 76ers, down by 5 with 2:15 remaining at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center, surged house to take a 3-0 lead within the best-of-seven Eastern Conference conflict, the Nets properly conscious that no NBA crew has come again from 3-0 all the way down to win a collection.
Embiid, Philadelphia’s MVP candidate, scored simply 14 factors however pulled down 10 rebounds and produced a vital block with eight seconds remaining and Philadelphia up by two.
Nets coach Jacque Vaughn expressed frustration that Embiid was even within the recreation at that time, marveling after the competition that Embiid wasn’t ejected when he aimed a kick from the ground at Nic Claxton’s groin because the Nets participant stepped over him within the first quarter.
Embiid had hit the deck when he tangled with Claxton because the Nets participant threw down an alley-oop dunk.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen that in my career before,” Vaughn mentioned. “For a guy to intentionally kick someone in an area that none of us want to be kicked at or toward, and for him to continue to play. I’ve never seen that before.”
Sixers star James Harden was tossed late within the third quarter after piling his shoulder into Royce O’Neale’s physique on a drive to the basket.
And Brooklyn’s Claxton was ejected early within the fourth when he picked up a second technical foul for a muscle-flexing taunt of Embiid.
“We stayed together,” Embiid mentioned of the important thing to the hard-fought victory. “We kept playing through everything that was going on.”
Tyrese Maxey keyed the late surge, scoring 10 of his 25 factors within the fourth quarter.
His step-back three-pointer with 44.7 seconds left gave the Sixers a 99-96 lead.
Spencer Dinwiddie minimize the deficit by one with a free throw and regarded headed for a game-tying layup when Embiid soared as much as reject the shot and the Sixers held on.
“We didn’t have our stuff, we didn’t do a lot of things right,” 76ers coach Doc Rivers mentioned. “A lot of things didn’t go our way — we just hung in there and won the game.”
‘Natural response’
Harden was steaming at his ejection — for a flagrant 2 foul — over what he insisted was a traditional basketball play.
“Honestly, I don’t think it was a foul,” he mentioned. “When somebody’s draped over you like that defensively, it’s just a natural basketball reaction,” he mentioned.
Mikal Bridges led the Nets with 26 factors and Dinwiddie added 20, however Brooklyn are at risk of being swept for the second straight season.
Embiid, who went to the locker room briefly within the first quarter and may very well be seen limping later within the recreation, mentioned the Sixers must be higher in Saturday’s recreation 4 — and that he’d be prepared.
“I’m OK,” he mentioned. “I took a lot of shots today, but I’m fine.”
In different video games Thursday, the defending champion Golden State Warriors tried to claw out of a 2-0 gap after they hosted the Sacramento Kings.
The Warriors have been with out star Draymond Green, who was suspended one recreation after stamping on Sacramento’s Domantas Sabonis in recreation two.
The Los Angeles Clippers have been with out injured Kawhi Leonard as they hosted the Phoenix Suns in recreation three of their Western Conference collection. The groups break up the primary two video games in Phoenix. — Agence France-Presse
Source: www.gmanetwork.com
