LEBRON, STEPHEN A. AMONG THOSE CALLING OUT OFFICIALS AFTER KNICKS’ CONTROVERSIAL WIN VS. SIXERS
You expect home court advantage in the NBA Playoffs. You expect a bunch of calls to go in favor of the home team. You may have even read some of the studies published about how a roaring arena can bias game officials in favor of the host.
Sure, maybe some of you hope or tell yourself it “all comes out in the wash.”
But few things in life are fair. And I highly doubt that when AI inevitably takes over and turns us all into minions before they decide to analyze every single NBA call and non-call since 1950 all in under 2.5 minutes, to fact-check if our copium-bathed hypothesis is true — that all NBA calls come out in the wash — I’d bet the farm the bots, with their 2046 automated forensic kits, will find more than a few stains on those old zebra-striped shirts. And one day my friends, you will smile that you were always right. The Sixers were robbed. But yes, you’ll still be a bot’s minion intern, sadly.
Here’s the bottom line: a lot of Sixers fans feel robbed because of the way the waning seconds of Game 2 at Madison Square Garden were officiated.
It’s actually the second time of the 2023-2024 season that one of the league’s two Goble brothers (Jacyn and John, the latter of whom led the crew for Game 2) is involved in a “final two minute” report controversy involving the New York Knicks.
But the Sixers didn’t wait for that report to come out and perhaps provide a modicum of solace for the fans, if not a new result.
Daryl Morey and Elton Brand are reportedly filing a grievance with the league office, because they feel the Sixers were significantly disadvantaged over the last two ballgames, both Knicks victories.
And it seems the NBA’s brightest star, LeBron James, believes they have a compelling case:
James, initially discussing calls in the game his Lakers lost to the Denver Nuggets on a Jamal Murray game-winner, brought up the Sixers-Knicks game as another example of a blatant human error, easily remedied (I’m inferring he’d add) with a quick double-check of the replay, by someone with a reasonably discerning eye.
Sixers head coach Nick Nurse was the first to weigh in, during the agonizing, confusing aftermath of a gut-wrenching Philadelphia loss, where the 76ers had led by five points with just 45.1 seconds remaining, thanks in large part to Maxey’s #flugame heroics.
But then it all unraveled...or got stolen from them, literally and figuratively:
“We take a look at getting it in quick. We don’t get it in quick. I call timeout. Referee looked right at me. Ignored me. Went in to Tyrese, I called timeout again. Then the melee started... I guess I gotta run out onto the floor or do something to make sure to get his attention.”
Joel Embiid spoke after the game.
“Unacceptable, I mean Tyrese got fouled a couple times... that’s just unacceptable,” Embiid told LB’s Josh Grieb and other reporters present in the visitor’s locker room at MSG amid the suffering.
The compilation from NBC Sports Philly reveals Nurse is telling the truth — even if you can understand how two refs might have missed both his T.O.’s in real-time.
And Drew Hanlen (Founder of Pure Sweat, and full-time skills trainer for Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey, Jayson Tatum) backed Nurse up with some smoking gun evidence — of not just the timeout call, but of the jersey-tug (something the Knicks have been getting away with quite a bit) from Jalen Brunson on Maxey.
That tug, and a subsequent push by Josh Hart, caused Maxey to first fumble the inbound pass then fall. That’s when the Sixers should have been awarded a foul, or at the very least a timeout.
Liberty Ballers’ own Erin Grugan was aghast that no foul was called on Maxey too. Small wonder Maxey, a first-time All-Star and (likely) future NBA 2023-2024 Most Improved Player recipient, couldn’t field the pass from Kyle Lowry cleanly:
And here’s the craziest part of all.
Even ESPN’s most passionate Knicks fan, Stephen A. Smith, one of the most outspoken, notorious, and simply relentless Process haters in world history, a Philadelphia Inquirer alum turned heel, had to admit his Knicks got away with one!!!
Smith appeared on “First Take,” Tuesday morning.
The star of the show was asked by host Molly Qerim if the Knicks “won this, or do you feel like the Sixers gave it to them?”
Smith’s answer says it all:
“Obviously neither. I think that the Sixers were robbed. And I’m a Knicks fan. We know this. Fair is fair. And here’s what I’m saying: Tyrese Maxey was fouled. I mean you see me sitting courtside, I mean what is it? Three feet [away]? Ten? To my left. He got slapped at least two-to-three times. Listen, I am ecstatic the New York Knicks won, we know who I’m rooting for. Okay, I’m unapologetic about that. But fair is fair. That should have been a foul call, everybody is caught up with the timeout and stuff like that. Referees miss hearing a coach calling a timeout all the time. That happens. What you rarely see happen in a situation like that is when somebody is so flagrantly mugged in the corner and no foul is called, particularly in this day and age.... that is a problem, guys.”
The score of the series won’t change with the controversy, but the Sixers are hoping for at least an admission of wrong-doing on the league’s part.
According to Kyle Neubeck of PHLY Sports:
“The Sixers intend to file a complaint with the NBA about the officiating in Game 1 and Game 2 of their series vs. the New York Knicks, according to a team spokesperson who spoke to PHLY Sports.
Philadelphia has a laundry list of concerns they want to present to the league, including but not limited to the following:
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.”
So if you’re one of those fans who doesn’t like the idea that officiating (namely officiating error) has a mighty impact on games, you might prefer to look at other variables instead.
The 2002 Kings shot just 53.3% from the free throw line in Game 7 vs. the Lakers, nevermind that it’s also regarded as one of the worst officiated series in league history.
If only Joel Embiid wasn’t bothered by a contact lens (still a mystery to me what’s up with his eye) and missed some free throws early. If only he was healthier. If only they’d boxed out better on Isaiah Hartenstein....
But the truth is that officiating plays a major, major role in determining outcomes. Just ask anyone who’s ever struck it rich betting on NBA games.
Or maybe ask former disgraced official Tim Donaghy and his halftime pRoBaBlY jUsT cHaTtiNg aBoUt tHe wEaThEr phone call buddy Scott Foster, the latter of whom officiated Game 1 of Knicks-Sixers.
Oh well, maybe the Sixers will get handed Game 3, as a brutal consolation prize.
They really do hate the process, don’t they?