It started with the Nets taking a real kick to the male parts and ended with a proverbial punch to the gut — both courtesy of Joel Embiid.

A playoff game that bordered on a street fight Thursday night was all but decided when Embiid blocked Spencer Dinwiddie’s driving layup that could’ve tied the score in the final 10 seconds and thus saved the Nets after they blew a late five-point fourth-quarter lead to the 76ers.

Visiting fans at Barclays Center started an “MVP” chant for Embiid, who, long after teammate James Harden was ejected, swatted the Nets to the verge of elimination by dealing them a 102-97 loss in Game 3 of their first-round series at Barclays Center.

An argument could be made (and was by the Nets) that Embiid shouldn’t have been in the game at that point — or for any of the final 45 minutes — either. From his back on the floor, Embiid kicked Nic Claxton in the groin after Claxton stepped over him and stared him down following a dunk.

“For a guy to intentionally kick someone in an area none of us want to be kicked at or towards and for him to continue to play, I’ve never seen that before,” head coach Jacque Vaughn said. “In a game. And a guy continues to be able to play. Intentional.”

Officials reviewed the replay and assessed a Flagrant 1 (not the automatic-ejection Flagrant 2) to Embiid and a technical to Claxton.

“I honestly don’t remember the play,” Embiid said through a smile that suggested anything but the truth. “We’re up 3-0. We move on.”

Crew chief Tony Brothers explained that “the contact was deemed unnecessary and based on the point of contact to the leg, it didn’t rise to the level of excessive.”

The play loomed large later because Claxton was assessed a second technical foul and ejected with 8:48 to go in the game and the Nets holding a six-point lead. The 76ers held a 21-10 advantage from there as the Nets’ only rim-protector went to the showers.

“You can look at our plus-minuses,” Dinwiddie said. “He’s the only one positive and he’s very positive (+13). He was doing his job at a very high level.”

The Nets erased an 11-point deficit early in the third quarter when Mikal Bridges scored nine points during a go-ahead 12-0 run.

In a span of 75 seconds, Bridges scored seven points and grabbed two rebounds to slice a 60-49 deficit to 60-56 on the way to a 61-60 lead. It seemed that Bridges was sparked by trash talking from the 76ers’ bench because he held up three fingers in that direction after knocking down a corner shot.

Harden, who had 21 points late in the third quarter, was tossed for a Flagrant 2 offensive foul on Royce O’Neale. Claxton, who had 18 points on 8-for-9 shooting and four rebounds, was ejected for flexing in Embiid’s face after a dunk.

“The whole game they were trying to get a rise out of me,” Embiid said. “I just understood I’m too valuable. Hitting me in my back, my knee … you can see the game plan was to try to make me frustrated so I could get ejected.”

When the focus returned to shot-making, the advantage lay with the 76ers, who will go for the sweep in Game 4 at 1 p.m. Saturday.

Tyrese Maxey’s 26-foot step-back 3-pointer broke a 96-96 tie with 44 seconds remaining. He scored 25 points on a night when Embiid looked to be battling back and knee pain but made the big block to go along with 14 points and 10 rebounds.

Dinwiddie could’ve tied the score at 99-99 but Embiid was in the way.

“I was tracking him the whole time,” Embiid said. “I knew he was going to try to do — not something stupid — but he was going to try to be aggressive in that situation.”

The Nets had one more chance to force overtime, but O’Neale threw away an in-bounds pass after a timeout to draw up the potential tying 3-point attempt, and an uncontested basket at the other end finished off the comeback.

“We had an option for Mikal to come to the basket,” Vaughn said. “They played him on the backside so he tried to create a different angle. Just he and Royce weren’t in line on that play.”

Want to catch a game? The Nets schedule with links to buy tickets can be found here.

Only seven players scored for the Nets, who got 13 points off the bench from O’Neale (seven) and Cam Thomas (six) but were overly reliant on four starters: Bridges (26), Dinwiddie (20), Claxton (18) and Cam Johnson (17).