Charles Barkley blasts refs during Sixers’ win, while NBC Sports Philadelphia has fun with captions

Hall of Famer Charles Barkley is certainly one of us. Last week, the TNT NBA analyst was complaining about brutally late start times during the NBA playoffs. On Thursday, he was trashing the refs.

During the Sixers’ surprisingly exciting 102-97 win against the Brooklyn Nets in Game 3 of the first round of the playoffs, Sixers guard James Harden was ejected on a flagrant foul 2 after making contact with Royce O’Neale in the closing seconds of the third quarter. Officials said Harden made contact “directly to the groin,” which the Sixers star denied following the game.

The move came after Embiid also flirted with being ejected after kicking at the groin of Nets center Nic Claxton, who received a technical foul for stepping over the Sixers star. The officials decided to slap Embiid with a flagrant 1, allowing him to remain in the game.

Barkley thought the officials got it backward — Embiid should have been ejected and Harden allowed to remain in the game, a point he and Shaquille O’Neal hit hard during halftime.

“You can’t hit him in the groin, you got to kick him in the groin. Then you won’t get caught,” Barkley said following the game. “If you kick him, you can get away with it … So kids at home, do not hit guys in their junk. Kick them in the junk.”

“I just don’t understand the officiating on those two calls. One’s accidental, one’s intentional,” Barkley said. “James’ was an accident … I don’t know how you can call that a flagrant 2.”

Barkley’s fellow TNT analysts also thought it was wrong for the officials to eject Harden.

“In this era of basketball, every guard flails with that offhand to either hook or get a better positioning on their dribble,” Shaq said. “He didn’t do it on purpose, but he’s been flailing that offhand for years to get the contact.”

Nets coach Jacque Vaughn sided with Barkley following the game.

“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 or toward, and for him to continue to play,” Vaughn said. “I’ve never seen that before. In a game and a guy continues to be able to play. Intentional.”

Despite Harden’s ejection, the Sixers took at 3-0 lead in the series. They go for the sweep Saturday at 1 p.m. at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, with the game once again airing nationally on TNT.

» READ MORE: After nearly kicking his way out of Game 3, Joel Embiid is lucky to learn from a win

NBC Sports Philadelphia also aired the Sixers’ Game 3 win, and following the game producers decided to have some fun with their chyrons.

During a postgame interview with Tyrese Maxey, who scored 10 points in the final three minutes, the bottom of the caption read “flat-out winner.”

It’s not the first time NBC Sports Philadelphia has given Sixers players some extra credit.

Last month, after Joel Embiid sunk a game-winning jumper against the Portland Trail Blazers with just one second left on the clock, producers included in their caption, “MVP voters, take note.” And after Embiid scored the final 11 points against the Atlanta Hawks in the team’s November win, the chyron read, “There’s a reason the crowd chants M-V-P.”

NBC Sports Philadelphia only has the TV rights for the first round. After that, every game will air on ESPN or TNT. The network has at least one more Sixers playoff game — Game 4 on Saturday afternoon in Brooklyn, with Kate Scott and Alaa Abdelnaby on the call.

» READ MORE: P.J. Tucker is the anti-Ben Simmons. Which makes him just what the Sixers need.