NEW YORK – What does it take to get kicked out of the NBA these days?
Not really. what does it take does anyone know more
It’s not an existential question for the NBA, but it’s a confusing one. After these past 96 hours, no one can say for sure.
Draymond Green was kicked out on Monday for trampling on Domantas Sabonis and yes, OK, that makes sense. Typically, Stone Cold Steve Austin just gets paid to stomp someone’s mud hole and get away with it.
But then Thursday night in Brooklyn, Joel Embiid didn’t after trying to kick Nic Claxton in an area that’s best not kicked. All right, it’s possible to make a kind of circular explanation for this. In our current age of hot takery, we’ve seen more robust departures from logical consistency.
But then how do you explain what happened to James Harden a few quarters later? That’s a blatant 2 and a sputum? A nudge, a tug, and all it takes to break up with Royce O’Neale. That threw him into Game 3 of that 76ers-Nets series.
“Based on the direct point of contact to the groin, it rose to the level of excess and expectoration,” referee Tony Brothers said.
“I didn’t hit him privately,” protested Harden. “Someone leaning on you like that defensively is just a natural basketball reaction. I didn’t hit him hard enough to make him fall over like that. For a flagrante 2 it is unacceptable. This is a playoff game. You’ve seen it in the league, things a lot worse than what this game was – honestly I don’t think that was a foul. This is not acceptable. That must not happen.”
So we ask again, what does it take to get knocked out of a playoff game in the NBA these days? Seriously, does anyone know?
“No, I have no idea what a sputum 2 is,” Doc Rivers said. “James surprised me, but listen, they looked at it. you called You just have to live with that. Officials are also trying to get it right.”
They are. No one says the referees resign. The Chancellery is tough. It’s ungrateful. It’s one of the few jobs in sports where the best way to spot someone doing a good job is to not spot them at all.
Still, it’s a problem. It took the spotlight this week. There were calls and non-calls. The bang of player dissatisfaction trying to play within the rules while wondering if the rules are what they think the rules are.
The biggest problem the league is currently facing, say the players themselves, is functioning. That’s what they told us in The Athletic’s NBA Player Poll. This survey was completed before we even started the postseason.
The players aren’t the only ones complaining, by the way. So are the coaches. Rivers starred in the 1990s. For the curtsy. Yes, he saw a lot. He once played in a game with six throws, including him. When it comes to hard fouls and throws, Rivers may not be Justice Stewart, but he knows them when he sees them.
Joel Embiid falls to the ground after clashing with Nic Claxton on Thursday. (Wendell Cruz / USA today)
Nets coach Jacque Vaughn was also confused when Embiid stayed in the game in the first quarter after meekly kicking Claxton between the legs.
“I don’t think I’ve seen that before in my career,” Vaughn said. “For a guy to intentionally kick someone in an area that none of us want to be kicked in and keep playing is something I’ve never seen in a game before. And a guy can keep playing. Intention.”
Embiid seemed to get away with a clean sheet simply because he couldn’t hit Claxton hard enough in the right place. Brothers hinted at as much. Embiid’s kick wasn’t counted as a flagrant 2 because it hit Claxton, he told a pool reporter.
“The point of contact dictated it was just unnecessary contact,” he said. “And not over the top, so yes.”
Embiid missed eight more shots Thursday night, but this one may have been the only one the 76ers were happy about.
Harden, on the other hand, was quite concerned that he had to watch the fourth quarter from the Sixers locker room. He said he didn’t even punch O’Neale in the wrong spot. It had the touch of a make-up ejection.
And no, he also no longer knows what kind of games will receive what kind of calls.
“I have no idea,” he said. “But getting my first sacking on a play like this, where there’s no hostile action, that’s unacceptable, as I keep saying. I’ve seen other calls and other plays and things like that – but c’mon man.
He wasn’t the only one thrown that night. Claxton was also sent away. He dived twice on Embiid and partyed too much each time. First, he was above Embiid, resulting in the kick that resulted in a flagrant for Embiid and a tech for Claxton. By the second, fourth quarter, he was staring at Embiid after another punch at him. Embiid begged the referees to “t” him, making the sign himself in case they forget how, and wasn’t disappointed. At least no one seemed to have a problem with that decision.
Now the 76ers and Nets are waiting to see what the league office says. Will there be repercussions beyond Thursday night?
It doesn’t look like Embiid or Harden will be suspended for their indiscretions. On the other hand, it was a surprise that Green had to sit out Game 3. His punishment, the NBA confirmed, was specific to Green.
Joe Dumars, the league’s executive vice president and head of basketball operations, laid the foundation for ESPN. Green not only kicked Sabonis, but went on to kayfabe with the Sacramento crowd, and of course there was his long history to consider. The act, “the harmful behavior” and the repeat offenses, Dumars told ESPN, are all to blame. Is this a tripartite test that the league will thrive on? If that’s the precedent, then Embiid and Harden should be fine to play in Game 4 on Saturday. Even Dumars acknowledged that if anyone other than Green had done everything he did Monday, there’s a chance he wouldn’t have been suspended.
The uncertainty isn’t doing the NBA any favors. Basketball has been great so far this month. Even this game, wild and strange as it turned out, was still tense and exciting, a 102-97 Sixers win. But the questions about refereeing took far too long. They created rifts between the players and the referees and there was no reassurance; only to harp more problems.
When Embiid injected his left leg between Claxton’s legs on Thursday night and stayed in the game to keep playing, the confrontation with Green quickly skyrocketed. When Harden was sent out, it was all the more confusing.
What does it take to get kicked out in the NBA these days? Nobody can tell.
(Top Photo by Royce O’Neale and James Harden: Sarah Stier/Getty Images)