After Hours with Amy Lawrence PODCAST: Hour 1

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40% off selected products right now at Blinds.com. Rules and restrictions may apply. Oh, these NBA playoffs are taking on a decidedly ejectable tone. Why is everyone getting ejected? Players not getting ejected or supposed to be getting ejected.

Oh my goodness. Chippy, raucous, rowdy, edgy, intense, ejectable. We've got more. More men behaving badly than we can talk about. Although I got to say, as much as I dislike James Harden, and I don't love his game, nor do I love how he represents himself as a human being in the league.

I don't know him personally, but I don't love the way he handles his business. That was not a flagrant two. I don't even think it was a flagrant one. To me, it looked more like incidental contact, but James Harden ejected for a flagrant two, while his teammate, Joelle Embiid, takes a groin shot, as in kicks Nick Claxton in directly into the little nets, and somehow does not get ejected. And Draymond Green misses a game for stepping on a guy, for stepping hardly, I'm sorry, stepping hard, not starting hardly, stepping Harden on a guy. Man, what the heck is happening right now in the NBA? What are you, all of a sudden, trying to turn this into football?

I thought we determined that these last 15 years or so, basketball is no longer a contact sport. The playoffs are spicy. And that goes for the Stanley Cup playoffs as well.

Boy, do I have a story for you. I actually missed the puck drop between Jersey and the New Jersey Devils, the New York Rangers. I hate missing the puck drop. I hate missing the national anthem, but I didn't make it for that either. Oh, it was so stressful.

This is why I usually drive everywhere. It's just wrong. Of all the nights, of all the, oh, I just saw it again, groin shot. I mean, it wasn't quite a cue shot, but it was a groin shot, to be sure.

I don't get it. How does Chuella Embiid not get ejected for that? But Draymond Green gets ejected for stepping on a guy, trying to pull his foot free from someone else who's holding on to his ankle.

Wowsers. It's all about reputation, I'm telling you. Rep and rap sheet. That's what got Draymond suspended. Didn't seem to be much of a problem for the Warriors on this night.

So we're going to talk about the playoff games, the trio in the NBA and the four in the NHL, including the one that I saw in person. Man, momentum is fleeting in sports, certainly in the playoffs. We've got a lot from voluntary OTAs in football. Just when you thought the 49ers had settled their quarterback situation, or at least were down to two candidates.

Oh no, think again. And in Major League Baseball, Max Scherzer may have pled his case. He may have passionately pled his case.

The powers that be, not having it. Out for 10 games for too much clumpy sweat and rosin and stickiness that caused the umpire's fingers to stick together. What a weird and wacky and wonderful week in sports. Thanks for hanging out with us. Happy almost Friday.

Boom. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. Glad to have you with us.

On Twitter, ALawRadio. I did share a photo, it's actually really neat, from the press box at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, which is where the Devils were hosting the Rangers in game number two. It is pretty. I love all the superimposed tech, the lights, the graphics that are projected onto the ice. It's really cool. I hadn't been to a Stanley Cup playoff game in quite a while, maybe four years, four-ish years. So this was fun.

Amazing atmosphere to start. So there is a photo. I'll see if I can put it out there on, or if I can get producer Jay to help me to put it on Facebook as well. So either on Twitter, ALawRadio, or on our Facebook page, After Hours with Amy Lawrence. Phone number 855-212-4227.

That's 855-212-4CBS. We'll get to James Harden, Jewell M. Bede. The Sixers extending their lead against the Brooklyn Nets, despite the fact that the Nets outscored them by 17 in the third quarter, wasn't quite enough. But we knew this would be a challenge for the Golden State Warriors without their best defender, the center cog in their wheel, their heart, their soul. Well, yeah, but they got this guy named Steph Curry. Moody to DiVincenzo. The trailer's Curry, a deep three in front of the logo.

Got it! Curry! 79-63.

It's their largest lead. Curry with the dribble on Murray. Nine to shoot Curry down the lane. The runner is up and good and he got fouled! Underhand scoop.

Lend crashed into him. And Golden State leads by 17. Pass to the wing to Camenga. Hands it back to Steph. Steph a deep three.

Good! From afar hash mark. Curry with the ball. Finds Thompson right corner. Just fires away and hits a three.

He wasn't even completely square to the bucket tub. Dante to Thompson. Takes a two.

It's up and good on the right side. A 15-footer. It's 105-83 Warriors here in game three. The crowd was pretty intense there at the Chase Center, recognizing how important it was for the Warriors to protect their home court in game three against the Sacramento Kings. Now, at the beginning there were a lot of Kings fans making noise too, but as the Warriors got out there, started to settle in as Kevon Looney and the other Warriors really crashed the glass.

I mean hard. And they limited the turnovers, limited the mistakes. What do we know about the Warriors? Sometimes they play fast and loose with the basketball.

They did not. In this game, they took care of the basketball. The pumpkin, as Kyrie Irving likes to call it. They took care of the pumpkin. They were not smashing pumpkins. They were protecting pumpkins.

I'm not sure the last time I saw this, but this is accurate. The Warriors only allowed seven points off their turnovers. So they had a dozen and they only allowed seven points. Not only does that indicate they're taking better care of the basketball, but it also indicates that they're getting back on defense when they do make a mistake and cough up the pumpkin. They actually had fewer fast break points than the Kings, which is interesting, but more points in the paint, more points off turnovers, and more triples.

I can't believe these numbers though. This is one of the things I dislike about the NBA today. Jay, take a wild guess how many three-point attempts went up between these two teams. Between the two teams? Between the two teams combined.

Between the two teams. I'm gonna guess 82. 97. Wow. 97 three-point attempts. Wow.

And I thought, honestly, I thought I was going a little high. Oh my gosh. 97 three-point attempts. That's ridiculous. That's like not even... Is there some kind of an invisible force field that they can't get inside the three-point arc? 97 three-point attempts. I love watching the Warriors play basketball, but that's... What? They shoot 16 of 50 from beyond the arc?

The Kings were worse. 11 of 47. Oh my gosh. Maybe try a layup. That's a lot of bricks.

Oh my gosh. I knew it was a lot, but just now looking at the number. So no wonder there were so many rebounds available. Steph Curry finishes with six from beyond the arc.

He goes 12 for 25. So he shoots just under 50% and of course provides such a great supercharged kind of... Well, he supercharges not only the fans when they're home because everyone gets fired up when Steph goes off, but he also puts that energy and electricity into the offense, right? Because you get the ball in Steph's hands. If he's not driving down the hoop with some kind of a goofy shot, finger roll, some high arcing rainbow that drops through the hoop. Curry! Well, then he's drawing the defense and dishing. Saw a lot of great ball movement tonight.

All hands on deck. And they knew that without Draymond Green, it was going to have to be that way. There's a lot of distractions and noise around the series. Obviously, losing both games up there was a tough way to start. And he wanted to come home with some good focus. And then you get that call that he's suspended. It's a tough blow, but yesterday at practice, we had really good energy understanding what the mission was to understand. We couldn't change anything about the decision that we knew was wrong, but that if we could come out and win tonight, it changes the momentum of the series. And it gives us an opportunity to just make it about basketball. And that was Draymond's message the whole time was, make the right adjustments, come with the right energy, protect our home court. When he gets back on Sunday, we got to capitalize off of that and try to make sure that we get capitalized off of that and try to win and even up the series. So we did what we're supposed to do. They say Draymond's got a history. So do we.

So we know how to bounce back. I saw the look on his face in the huddles and he was breathing. He was kind of meditating during timeouts. I could see how locked in he was.

And it was terrific tonight. Steve Kerr there talking about his superstar Steph Curry. He had that look in his eyes.

He was locked in. But did you hear what Steph said at the end of his comments to the NBA on TNT? They say that Draymond has history.

Okay, well, they includes me. Yes, they definitely do say that because he does. Maybe, maybe Steph is referring to the NBA. Remember, because the NBA statement indicated that this suspension is partly based on his history of unsportsmanlike acts.

So whoever they is, whoever Steph Curry's referring to, I love that. They say Dray has a history. Well, so do we.

That's also spicy and salty. We did what we're supposed to do. They say Draymond's got a history. So do we.

So we know how to bounce back. Nice. Boom, baby.

In yo face. That was Steph Curry doing the verbal shimmy on the NBA on TNT. He goes 36 points strong. Andrew Wiggins, remember how critical Wiggins was last year to their run to another NBA title. They do not win that series.

Well, they don't beat the Celtics without Wiggins, but they definitely don't win the West without Wiggins. He goes over 20 tonight. And as Steve Kerr talked about after the game, rebounds were critical. Guess who had 20 rebounds? Kavon Looney. I'm not sure if you guys saw this on TNT, but there was one report from the sideline reporter that Looney actually keeps track of his stats and he knew he was getting close to 20. So when one of the late check-ins that he does to get back on the court, he asked the guy at the scorers table, how many rebounds am I? And I think he said something, I can't remember exactly what the reporter said, but something along the lines of he heard Looney mention, I need three more for 20, which is by the way his career high. So Looney not only crashes the board hard and there were a bunch of offensive rebounds in there too that I saw, he not only makes sure that the Kings have fewer extra possessions, but in addition, he kind of fills that role of Draymond with nine assists.

So that's huge. The idea with the Warriors offense is plug and play, plug and go. They need to be so well versed in how they move the basketball that one guy can step in for another.

And you know how Steve Kerr has done this. It's a little different this year, but in the past what we've seen with him is he'll go 10 deep and he'll rely on five players off the bench. Maybe not en mass, like a hockey line change, but Dante DiVincenzo gets a ton of minutes off the bench, nearly 30. Tonight they also relied on Ja'Michael Green to fill in some of Draymond's minutes.

We know about Jonathan Kaminga, he's been a solid role player and someone else off the bench too that we don't see a lot of is Moses Moody. He had some critical buckets late in this game. But yeah, this was Chuck and Duck, 97 threes between the two teams and Steve says it's the rebounding and the lack of turnovers that were the major differences. So Kavon Looney, right in the center of it in game number three. Humbly speaking, I've always been a winner, like throughout, since I was a kid playing my, we won, my team, my team was the was the magic.

We won the Penny Boys and Girls Club championship. So I've always been in winning situations, playing for, playing, playing with a lot to lose. Must win situations, must win games, had a lot of practice at it. Not going to act like I got the ultimate poise or anything or any of that. But I mean, I like the moment, I like this situation.

High intensity basketball, everybody, every possession means a lot. That's how I've always played. Humbly speaking, I've always been a winner. I kind of like that.

I might steal that from Kavon. I've always been a winner. Humbly speaking. Hey, if you got it, you might as well flaunt it, Kavon Looney. I don't even think you need to be super humble about it.

It's just merely pointing out a fact. Humbly speaking, I've always been a winner. All right, we're keeping that.

We're so keeping that. That might be for this first week of the playoffs, right up with, I don't care, right up there with, I don't care, he's old. I laughed about that old day Thursday. I don't care, he's old. I saw people on the train and thought, I don't care, he's old. It's terrible.

It's a terrible disease that I have now. I don't care, he's old. I'm sure people are going to say that about me. Whatevs. I don't care, she's old. I don't care, he's old.

Happy almost Friday. Okay, so Kings see their lead cut in half. The Warriors rise again, even without Draymond.

He'll be back in game number four. Not so for the Brooklyn Nets, despite the fact that they cut the lead, despite the fact that they come back and take the lead in the second half. And even though James Harden is booted, they are unable to take a game off the sixer. So we'll see if that turns into a sweep. Not a great game for Joel Embiid.

I kind of think he deserves that after he didn't get ejected in the first quarter. Although, here's my theory. Actually, you know what? I'm going to say my theory. My theory about men standing over other men and posturing on a basketball court, or any other playing surface for that matter.

Of course, I'm not a guy, so it's just my theory from the outside, if you will. We are just getting started. Photo, new photo up on Twitter, A Law Radio, and we'll throw it up on Facebook as well. I love this time of the year, April, second busiest month of the sports calendar. Hot and heavy with the hoops and hockey playoffs. Gosh, seven, eight games per day. Well, why not? Let's just go all in, shall we?

It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. People, one family. It took me a little while, but I decided to claim autism as my superpower. When you hear the word autism, don't let that hinder you from doing whatever it is that you want to do. That's what Special Olympics tells you. You get involved in sports, but then you take it from the playing field out into real life. Family means to me community, acceptance, love, embracing a person just as they are. That's what Special Olympics did for me.

It's all about family. Subscribe to Agents of Inclusion on the free Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. After Hours podcast. Paul inbounding near side as he gets it from Bill Kennedy and fires to Booker, crosses over on Gordon, goes to the rim. Layup goes again. Devin Booker, give them 42 on the night to lead all scores.

Suns back up 10, 113, 103 as we hit the five-minute mark here in the fourth. Powell on the drive, takes Booker to the rim. He blocks him at the rim and it's taken by Durant.

Here come the Suns in transition. KD all the way, lays it up and in. What a play by Devin Booker. Blocking him at the rim leads to a runout for the Suns. Durant crosses over on Gordon, swings to Craig for three. He got it from the left corner. TC lines it up and knocks it down.

Nothing bigger than that one. Booker drives past Mann through the lane, hangs in the air, puts it off the window and in. Count that baby and the foul. The big time deuce and damage for D. Book with 42 seconds left. He's got 44 and counting and the Suns are up eight.

This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. No Kawhi Leonard and not enough firepower for the Los Angeles Clippers and how about this? A little bit too much Devin Booker. Oh my gosh and so many free throws. All right raise your hand if you watch Clippers and Suns. It was on NBA TV so maybe there are some of you that didn't see it.

The calls there with John Bloom on Suns radio. Another very healthy dose of Devin Booker. 45 points for Devin. He goes 18 of 29 from the floor and actually only took seven three-point attempts so that's my kind of game right there. Devin Booker and in the third quarter alone the Suns were able to put 40 on the board. Now in the fourth quarter their defense not so good. They actually allowed the Clippers without Kawhi Leonard to score 39. So the Clippers pulled within a handful of points in the fourth but ultimately every player in the Suns starting lineup in double figures and as I say Booker with 45, KD he has 28. He goes perfect from the free throw line.

It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. We're gonna get to the Harden and Embiid shenanigans. One gets ejected, one does not. Ultimately they still come out with a win. That's following the update at the bottom of the hour but the Suns take a 2-1 lead on the Clippers. Let's start with the news that we found out earlier in the day which is that there would be no Kawhi Leonard. So this is a huge blow because the Clippers are already without Paul George so now you're talking about both of their star players, both of their all-star scorers being unavailable even as they return home in the series. We've been here before you know um that's crazy it may sound you know we have a you know a great roster and a deep team and so other guys get an opportunity to step up and play well and I thought all our guys did that tonight you know and so you hate to see PG and Kawhi go down but you know we want to control what we can control you know that's all we can do. Russell Westbrook had 30 in this game I'm telling you this is the series Russell rides again but Norm Powell 42 points in this game it is an indication and a great reminder that in the NBA every guy can go off at any point I mean they're all that good and certainly they don't all have the opportunity but Norm Powell just scored 40 points a career playoff high duh the fact that he took 22 shots that alone is pretty intense but yeah this was Devin Booker versus Norm Powell no it's just seriously every single one of these guys in the league even if they don't see a lot of time can in fact get hot and so it was Norm and it was Russell Westbrook that kept the Clippers in it kept the Clippers hanging around but ultimately as they say just not quite enough firepower and not not enough defense either especially without Kawhi but we know that was an issue in game number two their defense would was routinely just giving up easy layups and Booker was able to get to the hoop as for Devin Booker he is on some kind of a tear right now and it's a lot of fun to watch just went at all costs you know that's our motto we don't want to give any games away you know even though they were undermanned today you know we know those guys are still going to bring it so you know we had to come with the hit first mindset and you know we just weathered the storm throughout the whole game great performance you know in the playoffs like that on a road game 3 45 with that efficiency like you know it's almost I expect stuff like this from him at this point in his career but he set the tone you know getting to the rim making plays or others just controlling the whole game and we're going to need him to continue to do that going forward Kevin Durant big fan of Devin Booker in fact it's a mutual admiration society think that the Phoenix Suns were at least partially helped by the fact that they had are you ready for this Marco Boletti is here in studio this I'm not sure which number is more excruciating but I'm going to lay them both out for you ready the Suns shoot 46 free throws that's not combined that's not Suns and Clippers that is 46 free throws for one team now throw in the 25 that the Clippers had and it certainly stands to reason that the Clippers would have fewer because without Kawhi Leonard they're not quite as aggressive right they don't have the same ability to get to the hoop but 46 and 25 together is 71 free throws but 46 for one team that's unwatchable almost in my opinion so what's worse well okay I won't say worse what's more excruciating 46 free throws for one team or are you ready for this I'm not sure if you saw or inspected the box score for the for the Warriors and the Kings 97 three-pointers 97 that one I saw OMG 50 right yeah the Warriors take 50 the only makes 16 right I mean I love the Warriors braid of basketball but that is ridiculous welcome to 2023 I mean it's really a layup for god's sakes analytics I mean I you know when James Harden's out there it's worse but oh my gosh I mean that's the analytics they want to take the three they feel like that's the better shot they're gonna take the threes I get it to a point that's seven probably excessive probably excessive probably excessive yes I think I'd rather watch that though at least you're getting up and down the floor as opposed to the whistle and constant you're only going up and down between the three point arcs at least it's moving the foul calls bogs everything down it just slows the game down to a grinding halt so you'd rather have them run 10 seconds jack up a brick turn around run 10 seconds the other direction jack up a brick yeah not even 10 seconds we're talking about five we're talking about two bad brands of basketball yes I'd rather at least have a flow a rhythm maybe they'll knock down some of those shots when you get too many foul calls as much as you want to reward teams for being physical and getting and pushing it to the rim it's excessive when you're blowing the whistle every two seconds and you're constantly at the free throw line so it just bogs the game down and winds up becoming where it's it's a slugfest I mean do we really want to go back to like late 90s basketball where you get a final score of 82 to 77 yes no we don't I loved I loved late 80s early 90s basketball that's when I cut my teeth that was different late 80s early 90s was a little bit different I mean you still had some of the you know the remnants of the Lakers and the up and down with the Celtics the Pistons were obviously what they were and the bad boys and that kind of started I'm talking about the ugly Knicks heat which I love being a Nick fan where the final scores would really be 74 68 and two players still standing it was brutal I mean somebody knocked down a shot and you're like all right like I can't go back to that 27 made three-pointers among 97 taken no seriously they missed 70 three-pointers in this game 70 missed three-pointers yeah see it's not it's not it's not the amount of shots it's the misses that's that's the problem 70 if you're gonna take that many you're gonna miss some you can't miss that you need to be a little bit more efficient like dodo birds tonight oh my gosh and they still scored how many points I'd right I'd 114 which is wild I'd rather talk about groin shots than 70 missed three-pointers and I love the Warriors brand of basketball all right yeah I'm just saying you stand over you stand over a man I mean you just better be careful what body part comes flying up at you stop posturing why are you standing over Joel Embiid it reminds me of LeBron James standing over Draymond Green in the NBA Finals and you know what 16 17 I'm not a big proponent I'm not a big fan but I do feel like it's a double standard how many times have I seen the Allen Iverson step over Ty Lue it's now in commercials we we have glorified this to the point where it's like it's the coolest thing ever stop yelling at me I'm not yelling at you it's the coolest thing ever and then when guys do it on the floor and then you go oh well that's disrespectful what the hell do you think it was when Iverson did it you're just talking about the game where you just I'm here you're the one who's talking about how the game has changed for sure we that is now something that's looked back on and it's revered when Iverson did that is it not my current players are that's why guys do it so you can't have that and then turn around and get upset when somebody does it to you you like it when you do it to someone else you don't like it when it gets done to you that's fine however you can't kick a guy in the groin it just doesn't work all right I'm just saying it's the body part that's hanging down there when you can't kick someone okay you're standing over him he should have been tossed he can't kick I can't believe he wasn't I can't believe that Draymond Green was and Joel Embiid was not I mean a little bit different but I think a lot of that had to do with the fact that it was Draymond Green yes he got tossed he got suspended all week it was kind of a you know it's all the things that Draymond Green did so then maybe the James Harden was a makeup I think it was I don't believe in those generally but my goodness I think it was that it also had no it made no sense because Harden shouldn't have been tossed no I don't know I don't think he should have had a flagrant foul at all I didn't I probably would have I would have called that I mean it was kind of but I don't I think it was more of just to try to get a guy to make some space and it's it's a foul it's an offensive foul I would have left it at those offensive foul that's not a flagrant too but I'm sorry when you kick someone on purpose you're gone that's just how it works it's the same thing as throwing it you throw a punch and you land it you should be you're ejected right exactly so you kick someone it's okay like it doesn't make sense Marco's yelling at me it's okay I can take it I can take it we're friends it's all right it's not I'm Teflon is that the one where it's like bounces off me and sticks to you okay wait till you hear so next hour wait to hear my story about what happened how I was waylaid on the way to the Devils Rangers game and missed not just the anthem which is my favorite part but the puck drop I never miss a puck drop I miss the puck drop you're not gonna believe it I'm telling you this was it of course of course so there's a story with this story so I'm not gonna ask questions okay all right not just me getting stuck in traffic I wasn't driving okay it's just yeah I was gonna ask questions but you know I want to make sure if it was just wait to tease I can't ask questions also you're not gonna believe where Bob was tonight you know my friend Bob yes I do yes yeah okay so wait till I tell you where Bob was tonight so can you come in a little early next hour because we got things to talk about I can do we've got to catch up I can do this okay it's after hours with Amy Lawrence and Marco Belletti and producer Jay who's behind the double pane glass making faces you are listening to the after hours podcast five on the shot clock James Harden dribbling with the right hand bangs into O'Neal offensive foul Harden with his second foul and the 76ers now with eight third quarter turnovers O'Neal is down he's on all fours Harden dribbled and pushed off and that's what the foul was and now Tony brothers coming to the table and it appears as they're going to they're going to review this play Doc Rivers had the ball Ben Taylor coming over to get it and again Tony brothers donning the headset and they're going to see if this goes beyond a common foul on Harden and the referees reviewing this looking at the monitor out at center court oh my god he's not just got a flagrant one James Harden it's a penalty two and he's ejected a flagrant foul penalty two and James Harden on his return here to Brooklyn has been ejected from the game and they're waving the rally towels like good night goodbye see ya to the Sixers star guard James Harden oh man this is after hours with Amy Lawrence Tom McGinnis on Sixers radio now this happened in the fourth quarter no I'm sorry third quarter this happened in the third quarter this and I don't believe in makeup calls generally I think that's ridiculous it once a missed call happens there's really no way to make up for it anyway because the situation will never be the same but after Joelle Embiid is not ejected earlier in the game in the first quarter for kicking Nick Claxton in the groin area he kicked I don't think it was a direct shot to the little nets but he did kick him in the groin area after Claxton is standing over him again I don't love that I'm not a huge fan you should be careful what you dangle over top of a guy because in this type of intensity when guys are edgy when they're liable to take it personally I don't think you want to be standing over someone where their legs are free that that seems to me like a really bad idea but I was pretty surprised that he was not given a flagrant two since we just saw Draymond Green get a flagrant two for stepping on a guy so using same thing leg body parts stepping on a guy's chest so I now I said to you before about that whole Draymond De Monte Sabonis incident I didn't actually think that the punishment the discipline was levied fairly I felt like Sabonis and Draymond both should have flagrant ones for unnecessary right neither one of those things was a basketball move but Draymond's reputation precedes him so he gets a flagrant two and he gets ejected and also gets a one game suspension now Joelle Embiid kicks a guy in the private parts and that are dangling over top of him and he doesn't get a flagrant two maybe because his reputation does not precede him but back to James Harden so is James Harden about to get suspended for a game after a flagrant two I'm gonna say probably not only because he doesn't have the same rep but come on I don't understand how Harden who's actually executing a basketball move come on anybody who has ever played basketball or any sport knows that sometimes there is contact to sensitive areas I'm a chick we're not so much worried about the groin areas but the number of times that I got popped in the chest when I played it wasn't on purpose it just happens your body parts get hit the number of times I got accidentally hit in the head or elbowed in the chest knocked in the stomach cracked in the butt it just it just happens so I don't think that every single time a basketball move is executed that does in that does in fact result in contact to a groin area or below the belt is on purpose and to me this was James Harden executing a basketball move now did he do it with some force potentially to get his defender off him to create space maybe but still a flagrant two that's I don't even know how to process that that's ridiculous it's after hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS sports radio James Harden didn't agree either I didn't hit him in a private area um somebody's draped on you like that defensively it's just a natural basketball reaction and I didn't I don't I didn't hit him enough hard enough for him to fall down like that but for a flagrant two is unacceptable like this is a playoff game you've seen around the league things that are much more worse than what that play was Draymond honestly I don't even think it was a foul on me but um yeah that's unacceptable that can't happen did you get an explanation at all explanation but that's unacceptable did you even do you even think it was a possibility no chat I didn't even think it was a foul on me you know I mean somebody draped on me natural reaction was just use your arm to get him off a little bit and that was it you know I mean it wasn't like no wind up elbow none of that I didn't hit him in the private area none of that so that's just that can't happen it can't happen now according to Monty McCutcheon who is the NBA senior VP of referee development and training he actually did an interview on TNT and said the officials determined this move that Harden made to create space was excessive and unnecessary excessive excessive and unnecessary contact to the groin how could it be excessive now maybe it was unnecessary just because he maybe could have stepped back or found another way to turn but excessive to me it looked like a basketball move and I'll be the first one to say to you I am not a defender of James Harden in any way shape or form I am James Harden's biggest detractor actually and I'm I think I wear that like a badge of honor I don't love the way he handles his business but this was ridiculous I agree with him on that point and he kept saying unacceptable unacceptable unacceptable in the locker room after the game now the crew chief is Tony Brothers and he said the pool reporter based on the point of contact directly to the groin it rose to the level of excessive and ejection well thank heavens that Draymond Green didn't step on some bonuses you know because he'd never play basketball again if James Harden's move was excessive and unnecessary Draymond would have been banned from the NBA yeah I'm actually stunned by that so let's hear from Doc Rivers and Joel Embiid on that moment in the first quarter well Joel Embiid was in the first quarter he continued to step on some bonuses was in the first quarter he continued to play third quarter for Harden I didn't think it in were anything but they called them and you know listen I told our guys you could see it early on there's a lot of extracurricular activity going on our way but you're up too old you know what do you expect I don't think it was this uh but you know that made the decision uh you know we just focus on you know the win uh we got the win and uh you know we move on yeah it I'm still am puzzled by that we'll see whether or not the NBA weighs in now here's the thing the league after conducting a review could rescind the flagrant two I don't even know how it's a flagrant one but could rescind the flagrant two and could say okay that was the wrong call or it wasn't applied the the the standard wasn't applied correctly and so it could be wiped from James Harden's record I I would be blown away if the NBA takes it further and adds a suspension now will it derail the Sixers no they're up 3-0 they actually I mean they may not be known for having extra scores or guys who can step up but the way Tyrese Maxey has played and I love Tobias Harris too they've got four guys who can legit score so we'll see if the NBA weighs in but to me this is a mess and what three different guys three different superstars in a tangle it's after hours tbs sports radio