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The Philadelphia 76ers let a great win over the Orlando Magic slip away from their grasp. They ended up losing 106-102 after pulling to within a single point in the final minutes. The Sixers and their fans will leave this game with memories of a great Jared McCain performance and a poor Tyrese Maxey showing that ended in controversy.
With five seconds left, facing a three-point deficit, Maxey chucked up a triple that hit the front of the rim. Orlando's Anthony Black wanted to foul Maxey before the shot attempt — and it looked like he did — but the officials allowed them to play on. Franz Wagner got the board and then got fouled.
The contact on Maxey's arm seems pretty clear, though it may not have been ruled a shooting foul had it been called. Nonetheless, jacking up a running three-pointer in the hopes of getting the call is risky business that did not pay off for Philly. Looking to shoot at the moment of the intentional foul is sensible though hard to defend in Maxey's case because of how unnatural his shot attempt was.
Maxey's take on the play was short and diplomatic. “I feel like I missed a shot,” he told reporters after the game. Following a performance with just 16 points on 7-19 shooting, he's surely locked in on flipping the script in their rematch on Friday.
76ers lose to Magic after controversial no-call on Tyrese Maxey
Nick Nurse said that Maxey drawing the foul “would have been a great play.” The 76ers' head coach insisted that he should have gotten three free throws.
While the referees did seem to make a mistake — all eyes will surely be on the L2M report — the 76ers should first acknowledge that they allowed themselves to be in a spot where a blunder from the refs impacted the outcome. Rebounding better on the defensive end, shooting better at the foul line, turning the ball over less and several other improvements in their play could have given them a better chance to win.
Frustrations are mounting for the 76ers, who are now 5-15 on the season. Although Joel Embiid is making progress towards a return and Paul George should only be out for one game, they have to start winning games now.
