Shocker! The officiating crew in the New York Knicks' wild 104-101 win over the Philadelphia 76ers on Monday night at Madison Square Garden didn't get every call or non-call correct in real-time.
The NBA released the Last Two Minute Report for Game 2 on Tuesday afternoon, revealing four referee mistakes of omission—three of which benefitted the Knicks, adding fuel to the fire of the futile grievance being filed by the Sixers.
OG Anunoby should've been whistled for defensive three seconds at the 1:14 mark of the fourth quarter, on a possession that ended with Tyrese Maxey draining a deep three-pointer from Joel Embiid that put Philadelphia up 100-96. About 40 seconds later, Joel Embiid got away with raking Donte DiVincenzo across the arms as the Knicks guard came away with a loose ball.
At far greater issue is what happened next, after Jalen Brunson got a shooter's bounce on a corner three-point attempt, cutting Philadelphia's lead to 101-99 with 27 seconds remaining.
Brunson grabbed Maxey's jersey as Lowry tried to find his teammate on the ensuing inbounds pass, an incorrect no-call that allowed the action to proceed unimpeded. As Maxey jumped to secure the ball after getting his jersey yanked by Brunson, Josh Hart “stepped forward into Maxey's space and initiated lower body contact” that caused Philadephia's star to fall to the floor, ultimately losing the ball—another incorrect no-call, according to the L2M.
You know what happened next. Hart took the ball from Maxey as the latter was sprawled belly down on the floor, quickly shoveling it to DiVincenzo for a missed wing triple. Isiah Hartenstein came out of nowhere to grab his team's miss in traffic, then passed to OG Anunoby as he was losing his balance, giving DiVincenzo time to re-locate and reset his feet.
Splash.
Nick Nurse, 76ers blame officials while falling into 0-2 hole vs. Knicks
It's unclear whether Philadelphia actually filed a grievance with the league office in wake of Tuesday's game. Team president Daryl Morey is no stranger to those type of antics, though, memorably providing the NBA with a team-led “audit” of allegedly preferential officiating for the Golden State Warriors in Game 7 of the 2019 Western Conference Finals when he was with the Houston Rockets.
Nothing came of that protest, just like nothing will come of whatever the Sixers did or didn't do with regard to a grievance pertaining to their first two playoff games against the Knicks. The supposed referee errors coach Nick Nurse seemed most frustrated by after the game were also acknowledged in the L2M, but as correct non-calls.
Maxey being fouled twice before losing the ball without getting a whistle on the game's deciding possession isn't what drew Nurse's ire. It's that he believes Philadelphia should've been granted a timeout on two separate occasions before that hysteria even came to pass.
“I called timeout. The referee looked right at me, and ignored me. Tyrese Maxey got the ball. I called timeout again, he ignored me again,” he said, per . “I guess I got to run out onto the floor and do something to make sure I get his attention.”
Game 3 tips off on Thursday at 4:30 p.m. (PT) from Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia.
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