Was also really awesome that the turning point of the game was Harden trying to flop when he lost the ball going up, and getting hit with a flagrant instead. I would complain that the only way to get that reviewed is for the player to lie on the floor awhile like Brown did, but the officials need time to see replays before stopping play, so there isn't much way around it.
The ancient Greeks would have fucking loved that sequence. Just so perfect. Live by the flop, die by the flop.
And how we got screwed by 3 or 4 calls early...
- Jaylen dribbling it off Niang's foot
- Smart playing clean defense, getting charged and then fallen on and called for a foul
- the ball Harris dribbled before going to the backcourt called a tipped ball
- White's totally clean defense on Harden, hands straight up in the air, called a foul
- the matching tech on Jaylen when he was held by the PHI bench
...etc such that even the announcers were pointing it out - and then it's Smart, of all people, just calming everyone else down and saying "it's ok, we got this, no need to get worked up". Like after each one of those, Mr. "fully prepared to throw down with Joel Embiid" was the voice of calmness and reason.
If you can keep your head, when everyone about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you...