Sixers Vindicated In Fury Toward NBA Officiating After Game 2 Loss Vs. Knicks

The Philadelphia 76ers find themselves in a 2-0 hole in their opening-round NBA playoff series against the New York Knicks after a late-game meltdown in Game 2. Dismal officiating played a large part in that collapse.

After Sixers guard Kyle Lowry split a pair of free throws with 47.1 seconds left, the Sixers were up 101-96. Jalen Brunson got a shooter’s bounce on a three-point attempt with 27.1 seconds left, and the Sixers turned the ball over on the ensuing inbounds pass, setting the stage for a chaotic sequence that culminated in a go-ahead three-pointer from the Knicks guard Donte DiVincenzo.

According to the NBA’s Last Two Minute report, that entire sequence shouldn’t have happened. Referees missed a personal foul on Joel Embiid that would have sent DiVincenzo to the free-throw line prior to Brunson’s three-pointer, and they missed a pair of fouls—one against Brunson and the other against Josh Hart—on the inbounds play.

Brunson pulled Maxey’s jersey “away from his body, which affects Maxey’s ability to secure the pass,” the report acknowledged. Meanwhile, Hart “steps forward into Maxey’s space and initiates lower-body contact that causes Maxey to lose his balance and fall to the floor.” Both of those were deemed incorrect no-calls.

After the game, Sixers head coach Nick Nurse https://twitter.com/PHLY_Sixers/status/1782603055462023424 that he attempted to call timeout before Kyle Lowry inbounded to Maxey, but he said the referee “ignored” him. The report confirms that Nurse’s attempt to call timeout was “neither recognized nor granted by the officials.” Nurse also attempted to call timeout after the inbounds play, but that was “simultaneous to Hart making contact with the ball and PHI not having possession,” according to the report.

Nurse wasn’t the only member of the Sixers who was furious with the late-game officiating. Embiid called it “f—king unacceptable” while speaking with reporters.

A team spokesperson told multiple reporters last night that the Sixers plan to file a complaint with the league office about the officiating in the first two games of this series. Kyle Neubeck of PHLY Sports reported that the Sixers have “a laundry list of concerns,” including Nurse not being granted a timeout on the inbounds pass to Maxey. That laundry list likely got longer following the release of the report, especially since the referees also missed a three-second violation on Knicks forward OG Anunoby with 1:14 remaining.

Those late-blown calls weren’t the only reason why the Sixers lost on Monday. They jumped out to a 10-point lead in the first half, but a pair of three-pointers from Hart helped the Knicks trim their deficit to four by halftime. Embiid, who knocked down a career-high 88.3 percent of his free-throw attempts during the regular season, started 2-of-6 from the charity stripe on Monday night.

Had Lowry hit both of his free throws with less than a minute remaining, DiVincenzo’s three-pointer would have only tied the game, leaving the Sixers with the final possession. Had they boxed out on the first three-pointer that DiVincenzo attempted after the chaotic inbounds pass, they would have been headed to the free-throw line nursing a two-point lead with less than 15 seconds remaining.

Maxey acknowledged as much during an interview with the Inside the NBA panel Tuesday night after he was announced the NBA’s Most Improved Player.

However, the Sixers have every right to be furious with the late-game officiating in the wake of the late-game report. It’s inexcusable for the referees to blow three calls on a single possession, particularly when that wound up being the game-swinging sequence.

With that said, there isn’t much the Sixers can do about it now. https://twitter.com/FredKatz/status/1782619621385781309 of The Athletic reported that their grievance “is not an official protest” of the game, so “it will not affect the outcome of Game 2.”

Even if the Sixers did file an official protest with the league office, they’d be facing an uphill battle. There have been only six successful protests in league history, according to Lukas Weese and John Hollinger of The Athletic, the last of which came in December 2007.

The Sixers would have had to file an official protest by midnight last night, which they apparently didn’t do. But ESPN’s Tim Bontemps noted that they likely would have been unsuccessful even if they did.

“The Knicks tried a similar maneuver earlier this year when referee Jacyn Goble made an incorrect call on Brunson fouling Houston Rockets guard Aaron Holiday at the end of a game in Houston, only for New York’s protest to get denied because it could not demonstrate that there was a misapplication of the playing rules, rather than human error,” Bontemps wrote.

Although the Sixers are now down 2-0 heading back home, Embiid remains confident in their ability to win the series.

Moving forward, they can only hope to avoid more late-game officiating miscues that cost them another key win.

Unless otherwise noted, all stats via NBA.com, PBPStats, Cleaning the Glass or Basketball Reference. All salary information via Spotrac and salary-cap information via RealGM. All odds via FanDuel Sportsbook.