Nets moving past Joel Embiid incident as they look to claw back from 3-0 series hole

BROOKLYN — While the Nets still seemed perplexed by the calls that transpired on Thursday night and how Joel Embiid remained in Game 3 after kicking Nic Claxton, the team was prepared to turn the page to Saturday’s do-or-die matchup.

The league had not made an announcement on any supplemental discipline for Embiid for the play which ended with him extending his leg in a kicking motion into the upper thigh of Claxton during the first quarter of Game 3. Embiid was assessed a Flagrant Foul 1 by the officials and remained in the contest.

“I just don’t really get it. I thought precedent was set just a day or so ago,” Cam Johnson said after the Nets practice on Friday. “I thought that was a surefire (ejection). I thought that was like, okay, literally almost excessive and unnatural and not basketball-like, whatever. I thought it hit all those, but I guess they saw it differently.  But we’re not going to rely on somebody getting kicked out of a game. You know, that’s not the way, that’s not how we want these to go.”

What made the moment even more bizarre was the officials’ decision to kick James Harden out of the game later in the night for a seemingly less egregious foul on Royce O’Neale. Dorian Finney-Smith said on Friday it looked like a “makeup call” and Jacque Vaughn said that he’d be waiting to see what the league had to say about the whole thing.

“I’m interested to hear the explanation of both. So I’ll be tuned in and waiting for my email box to fill up,” Vaughn said with a laugh.

But Vaughn and the Nets’ focus is far from whatever may happen with Embiid. Brooklyn will look to accomplish the improbable — though not impossible — task of rallying from a 3-0 series deficit.

Only five teams in all of professional sports have managed such a feat, with the 2014 Los Angeles Kings being the most recent during their run in the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs.

“You just have to go out there and show up and try to win and not just get out there,” Finney Smith said. “You know, we’re down 3-0. We could sit around and mope around or you can come out there and compete. We are still doing what we love and have to take advantage of that opportunity.”

The Nets have played well during the course of the first-round series with their Eastern Conference rivals, but never well enough to pull out the win. When the Nets’ defense held Embiid and Harden, their shooting struggled.

The Nets had a hard time adjusting when certain players were limited and the Sixers’ talent level has shined through as well.

“We’re hitting certain goals that we had in mind for the series,” Johnson said. “Realistically, we should have been able to spin them into at least one or two wins right? But that’s not reality. And that’s where the frustration piece kicks in. But you have to look at it, we got a maximum of four games left and a minimum of one so I’ll be darned we’re gonna give it our all every possession.”

As Vaughn has done all season since taking over as head coach, he is trying to go into Saturday’s Game 4 with a positive attitude.

“I told the guys, we didn’t give up last night, we grew up,” Vaughn said. “So this part of it right here is an opportunity for them to grow up and show up tomorrow, and have a choice to do it.”