First, Nic Claxton got kicked in the groin. Then, he got kicked out of the game.
And that ejection has his Nets on the brink of being kicked out of the playoffs.
After Nets coach Jacque Vaughn begged his players to show some fight, Claxton did — though maybe too much. His passion and energy helped him outplay MVP favorite Joel Embiid — who somehow avoided an ejection despite kicking Claxton below the belt — and spurred the Nets to a six-point fourth-quarter lead Thursday night in Game 3 of their first-round playoff series against the 76ers.
But then Claxton, after a dunk on Embiid with 8:48 left in the fourth quarter, was hit with his second technical of the night and gained a hard-learned lesson in the process. It was the Nets’ center, rather than the 76ers’, who was sent off the court and down the Barclays Center tunnel, taking his team’s momentum with him in a 102-97 collapse.
“Yeah that’s a part of my growth,” Claxton said. “[I] got everybody going, the way I was playing it got the crowd going, but I also have to be out there for my team. Knowing I got a technical early in the game, in a moment where I get a tough finish I just need to stare into the crowd and get back on defense instead of looking at him. So I just got to keep my emotions in check.”
The Nets were outscored 21-10 the rest of the way after Claxton’s exit. They shot just 3-for-12 with a couple of turnovers down the stretch, and they now have fallen into an 0-3 series hole that looks insurmountable, but still could turn out educational. Especially for one of their young core players.
“He was playing unbelievable; eight and change, he gets kicked out. That’s where we’re going to grow from,” Vaughn said. “I told the group they didn’t give up, they grew up. Whether that’s Nic understanding how important he is to us.
“He and I conversed after the first tech. I warned him no hanging on the rim, nothing extra to get himself kicked out, just because I knew and kind of felt the environment the game was heading towards. But it’s an opportunity for him to grow up, which is great.”
Though Claxton is just 24 years old, it still will be a tough lesson for one of the Nets’ young centerpieces.
Claxton largely outplayed Embiid, finishing with 18 points and four assists while shooting 8-for-9 from the floor. Claxton played switchable defense on everybody from the presumptive MVP to former MVP James Harden, and finished a plus-13.
Want to catch a game? The Nets schedule with links to buy tickets can be found here.
Read Related Also: Teyana Taylor Is Transcendent in Mother-Son Drama
He helped hold Embiid to 14 points on 5-for-13 shooting with five turnovers. But Claxton wasn’t around to see the end of it.
“Yeah when I watched it, it was a little excessive. I got to keep my emotions in check,” said Claxton of his second technical, for taunting after his dunk over Embiid. “They need me out there. So that’s part of my growth, just keeping my emotions like that when I’m playing well and my emotions are really high. I got to look myself in the mirror and just be smarter in those situations.”
Emotions were high from the start.
Claxton and Embiid have history, having gotten double technicals for jawing at each other in a January meeting between the teams. Thursday, just 2:26 into a first quarter in which he scored seven points, Claxton threw down an alley-oop dunk off a pass from Mikal Bridges. He drew a foul on Embiid, then stepped over the prone All-Star (for which he subsequentlyy picked up his first technical of the night). Embiid responded with a kick to Claxton’s groin.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen that in my career before, for a guy to intentionally kick someone in an area that none of us want to be kicked at … and for him to continue to play,” Vaughn said.
“I mean it’s the MVP. I thought he should’ve been kicked out, but it’s not my job to referee,” said Claxton of Embiid, who was hit with a technical 1 for the kick. “Maybe I should have sold it more instead of just clapping on the ground, like I was really hurt.”
What will hurt more is what happened later. Claxton’s dunk over Embiid gave the Nets an 87-81 lead, but he then picked up the silly technical for taunting that ended his night.
“Obviously, we need him out there,” Bridges said.
For Claxton, who along with Bridges and maybe Cam Johnson is a young cornerstone of the Nets’ rebuilding, it was a lesson learned.
But with the Nets facing a sweep in Game 4 on Saturday afternoon, the lessons may not pay off until next season.
