76ers' James Harden Rips 'Unacceptable' Flagrant Foul Call for Ejection vs. Nets

James Harden does not agree with his first NBA ejection.

Harden was kicked out in the final seconds of the third quarter of the Philadelphia 76ers' 102-97 Game 3 win over the Brooklyn Nets on Thursday after officials saw a low blow against the Nets' Royce O'Neale.

"For a flagrant 2, it's unacceptable," Harden said after the game, h/t The Athletic's Mike Vorkunov. "This is a playoff game. We've seen it around the the league, things that are much worse than what that play was. Honestly, I don't even think it was a foul. That can't happen."

The 76ers star denied that he hit O'Neale "in a private area."

Harden played 29 minutes and put up 21 points and five rebounds before exiting. The 76ers lead the first-round series, 3-0.

The contact came when Harden took a step against O'Neale, who was guarding him. Harden's arm extended, and O'Neale immediately doubled over in pain.

"It's just a natural basketball reaction," Harden said. "I didn't hit him hard enough to fall down like that."

In a mid-game interview on TNT, Monty McCutchen, NBA senior vice president of referee development, said not all shots to the groin are immediately given the flagrant-2 designation.

"We have several things we look at," McCutchen said, h/t ESPN's Tim Bontemps. "It's not an automatic, because you can have incidental contact there. But when you have significant contact, when you see that it has real impact to the groin, we want to make sure we are protecting players."

After the game, Harden told reporters he should have been given more leeway because he is "not labeled as a dirty player."

Harden's ejection came later in a game that had been contentious from the very start. It was only three minutes in that Joel Embiid was assessed a flagrant 1 foul after kicking Brooklyn's Nic Claxton in the crotch as Claxton stepped over him following a dunk.

On the TNT broadcast, announcers wondered if Harden's ejection could be seen as "somewhat of a makeup call" for Embiid staying in the game after the early foul.

The 76ers will have the chance to close out this first round on Saturday at 1 p.m., when Harden returns to take on the Nets for Game 4 in Brooklyn.