Joel Embiid says he doesn’t remember kicking Nic Claxton in the groin

After kicking Nic Claxton in the groin, Joel Embiid took the advice of Ted Lasso and decided to be like a goldfish with its 10-second memory.

The Philadelphia 76ers and the Brooklyn Nets saw the chaos of the series between the Golden State Warriors and Sacramento Kings and upped the ante with a wild Game 2 that included two groin shots, and a pair of ejections — on for Nic Claxton for taunting and one for James Harden for elbowing Royce O’Neale between the legs.

The weird thing is that James Harden was ejected for a play that seemed fairly benign and accidental. Meanwhile, Joel Embiid was not ejected for blatantly kicking Claxton between the legs while he was lying on his back.

Here is Harden’s:

And here is Embiid’s:

https://twitter.com/NBAonTNT/status/1649216136435625986/video/1

Maybe it’s just me, but one of those seems overtly intentional and a lot more aggressive.

What did Joel Embiid have to say about kicking Nic Claxton?

When asked about the incident after the game Embiid, like a five-year-old who has been caught red-handed, claimed not to remember what happened and then changed the subject.

"“I don’t know, I don’t remember. Like I said, we’re up 3-0. We move on. It takes me a lot to process a game after that type of fight. I gotta watch the tape, see what we can do better, and what I can do better. I’m just happy we got the win.”"

The Nets were clearly looking to get more physical and antagonistic with Embiid after he carved them up in the first two games of this series — Claxton clearly stepped over him intentionally and was eventually ejected after another taunting incident. Embiid did make clear that he recognized the strategy and knew he was too important to engage in any more back-and-forth. But the Nets are likely to employ this strategy again, so we’ll see how well he can keep his emotions in check.

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