The Boston Celtics currently sit at 5-2 on the young 2023-24 NBA season after a frustrating road loss to the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday night. Although the Sixers controlled the game for the majority of the second half, Boston made a furious late rally and had a Kristaps Porzingis shot up in the air that would have tied the game, but the attempt grazed off of the rim and into the hands of Joel Embiid.
But there was just one problem: Embiid was clearly standing out of bounds when he caught the ball with a few seconds left, and the officials did not make the call, allowing the clock to run out.
Now, the NBA itself has confirmed in the official “last two minutes” report that Joel Embiid did have a sneaker on the line when he was touching the ball and thus, Boston should have gotten possession back with enough time to launch another attempt for the tie, per Taylor Snow of the Celtics.




The NBA confirms in its L2M report that Embiid stepped out of bounds here. Should have been Celtics ball with 4.5 seconds remaining.https://t.co/WA2trOEAuR
— Taylor Snow (@taylorcsnow) November 9, 2023
Despite the frustration, the Celtics will have to soldier on through the beginning portion of their schedule now searching for answers following two straight losses, which occurred on the heels of a 5-0 start to the season. Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday have both looked solid if not perfect in their first few games in Boston uniforms, but on Wednesday evening, it was the struggles of Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum that kept the Celtics at bay for most of the evening.
Boston will look to get back in the win column when they host the Brooklyn Nets on Friday evening.