The Philadephia 76ers saw their promising season come to an abrupt end on Wednesday night after falling just short in Game 5 against the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference semifinals.
The loss did have some minor controversy concerning one of the final plays in the final minute of the fourth quarter after All-Star center Joel Embiid drove to the basket for a layup that was missed after Aron Baynes contested the shot to which no foul was called. The NBA released it's Last 2 Minute Report for Tuesday night's game, the league's last two-minutes report stated that there should have been in fact a shooting foul called on Baynes in that situation.
The NBA's L2M Report reveals that Boston #Celtics center Aron Baynes fouled Philadelphia #76ers center Joel Embiid (@JoelEmbiid) on a shot attempt with 14.6 secs left & BOS up 111-109. Embiid would've had 2 FT's to tie the game. #Sixers #TrustTheProcesshttps://t.co/3fhSfkaPPt pic.twitter.com/aaHXeK7kyi
— Tomer Azarly (@TomerAzarly) May 10, 2018
This could have potentially changed the outcome of the game as Embiid would have been sent to the free throw line to possibly tie the game up. Instead, he missed the layup and the ensuing putback that the ball was then deflected off his left knee out of bounds. It puts into perspective that the referees had missed a key call that could have had a major impact on how the game played out.
Although this would have altered the finish to the game, it wasn't a contest that simply came down to one play as the 76ers had their chance to pull out the win prior to that. The team had made a late surge on an 11-1 run to push ahead 107-103 with just over two minutes left in the fourth quarter. The 76ers even had a chance to increase that deficit from 109-107 with a minute and 11 seconds left after J.J. Redick missed wide-open look from beyond the arc.
There were many mistakes in the series that led to them being put in the position to now being out of the playoffs in the second round. This just puts into perspective what was a frustrating end to an encouraging season that could have been much grander of a finish.