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Joel Embiid slammed the officiating and sent a strong message to the NBA after he felt the Philadelphia 76ers got robbed in their deflating 104-101 Game 2 loss to the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden on April 22.
“Unacceptable,” an inconsolable Embiid told reporters. “Tyrese [Maxey] got fouled a couple of times, we just had the same thing happen against Miami with Tyler Herro. That’s just unacceptable to put us in this situation. That’s [expletive] unacceptable to lose a game like this, especially in the playoffs.”
Maxey lost the ball off an inbound play which led to Donte DiVincenzo’s go-ahead 3-pointer with 13 seconds remaining, wiping out a Sixers’ five-point lead in the final 30 seconds.
But television replays showed Knicks star Jalen Brunson grabbing Maxey’s jersey causing the loose ball. Moments later, Knicks forward Josh Hart also appeared to have bumped Maxey causing the Sixers guard to lose his balance and subsequently the ball.
Sixers coach Nick Nurse also accused the game officials of blatantly ignoring him during the wild sequence which hastened their collapse.
“I called a timeout, the referee looked right at me, ignored me,” Nurse told reporters. “It went into Tyrese, I called timeout again, and then the melee started. I guess I got to run out onto the floor and do something to get his attention. Needed a timeout there to advance it, would have been good, couldn’t get it.”
The Sixers appeared on their way to stealing homecourt advantage when they took a five-point lead on Maxey’s 3-pointer with 69 seconds left and Kyle Lowry’s split in the final 47 seconds.
But Brunson, who missed his first five 3-point attempts, ignited the Knicks’ frenetic comeback with a 3-pointer.
After DiVincenzo’s go-ahead 3, the Sixers still had a chance to steal Game 2. But Knicks center Isaiah Hartenstein swatted Maxey’s game-winning layup attempt.
Sixers File Grievance Over Officiating
The Sixers did not take the tough Game 2 loss sitting down.
They went on to file a grievance with the NBA over the officiating of the first two games of the series, according to ESPN’s Tim Bontemps.
“That’s on the league, that’s on the NBA, that’s on the freaking referees,” Embiid added. “I hate to put the game on them, but I’m sure the (last) two-minute report is going to come out and we’re going to see what happened. Like I said, that’s unacceptable. … We fought for 47 minutes and 20 seconds. For that to happen … that’s not OK.”
List of Complaints
PHLY’s Kyle Neubeck summarized the Sixers’ list of complaints forward to the league after Monday night’s loss:
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- The Sixers were disadvantaged by two calls in the last two-minute report from Game 1 — an incorrect no-call on a foul from Mitchell Robinson on Tyrese Maxey, and an incorrect no-call on a traveling violation committed by Jalen Brunson
- Philadelphia believes Nick Nurse called for a timeout twice on the inbounds pass that swung the game in the final minute, once prior to the inbounds pass and once following the ball getting to Tyrese Maxey on the floor
- The Knicks have included private information about the referees in their game notes
- The Sixers have been the most disadvantaged team in the last two-minute report this season. A report compiled in early April showed that the Sixers had been disadvantaged on 22 calls in these reports during the regular season compared to 11 such errors going against opposing teams, the worst such ratio in the NBA.