James Harden Sounds Off On 'Unacceptable' Ejection vs. Nets

76ers guard James Harden was not happy with his ejection in Game 3 against the Nets.

As the Philadelphia 76ers trailed late in the third quarter of Thursday night’s Game 3 against the Brooklyn Nets, the Sixers lost their star guard James Harden.

After Harden was whistled for an offensive foul, the officiating crew decided to review the play for a possible flagrant call. The Sixers seemed confident that Harden would avoid picking up a flagrant foul. Unfortunately, their instincts were wrong.

As Harden attempted to drive past Brooklyn Nets veteran Royce O’Neal, the two made contact on the play. O’Neal went down, showing signs of being in pain.

Harden was issued with a flagrant two foul call. As a result, he was ejected from the game. When Harden checked out, he left the game with just under 30 minutes played. He knocked down eight of his 15 shots from the field, scoring 21 points. 

After the game, Crew Chief Tony Brothers addressed the ejection and explained the call.

“Based on the point of contact directly to the groin, it rose to the level of excessive and ejection,” he said.

As expected, Harden disagreed with the call.

James Harden has been ejected for this, but Embiid wasn’t earlier.

There is 0 consistency across anything in the NBA right now. Officials are just guessing calls.
pic.twitter.com/p9vg9MvFAQ

— Guru (@DrGuru_) April 21, 2023

“Unacceptable,” said Harden. “Like, unacceptable flagrant two.”

“That’s the first time I've been ejected,” Harden continued. “I’m not labeled as a dirty player, you know what I mean? I didn't hit him in a private area. Somebody's draped on you like that defensively, it's just a natural basketball reaction. I didn't hit him hard enough for him to fall down like that. For a flagrant two, it’s unacceptable. This is a playoff game. You’ve seen around the league things are much more worse than that play was. Honestly, I don’t think it was a foul on me.”

Harden added that he wasn’t personally issued an explanation after the play before he walked back to the locker room early. 

Losing Harden was significant for the Sixers, who trailed the Nets at that point in the game. Fortunately for the 76ers, Harden’s absence didn’t break their chances of getting out in front and sealing the deal with another win.

With a big boost from the backcourt duo of Tyrese Maxey and De’Anthony Melton, the Sixers defeated the Nets 102-97. Harden remains disappointed with the call, but he’s happy with his team’s results.

“I was cheering my team on. [Watching it was] horrible,” Harden joked. “And I was having an OK game; I’m aggressive a little bit, you know what I mean? That’s one of the worst fouls. That can’t happen again unless it’s called for. I’m happy we won the game. Game 4 is Saturday.”