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After the New York Knicks stunned the Philadelphia 76ers on Monday night with a furious comeback that may have been assisted by the referees swallowing their whistles, Philadelphia is filing a grievance with the NBA over the officiating, per Tim Bontemps of ESPN:
“The 76ers plan to file a grievance with the NBA over the officiating across the first two games of this series, a team spokesperson told ESPN.”
Notably, the 76ers’ proposed grievance is for the officiating across both games of the series so far, not just the wild final seconds that gave the victory to the Knicks.
In that sequence, New York trailed the 76ers by five points within the final 30 seconds, on the verge of losing home-court advantage before a stunning rally, kicking off when Jalen Brunson finally got a shot to fall in during an otherwise miserable shooting night.
Brunson’s 3-pointer from the corner bounced on the rim and fell in, cutting the 76ers’ lead to 101-99 with 27 seconds remaining. Josh Hart stole the ball from Tyrese Maxey on the controversial play to get the ball back for the Knicks, but DiVincenzo missed a 3-pointer. Isaiah Hartenstein grabbed the rebound and passed it to OG Anunoby, who got it back to DiVincenzo, who hit that one to make it 102-101.
Hartenstein then blocked Maxey’s layup, Anunoby made two free throws, and the Knicks held on when Joel Embiid missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer.
Team issues with playoff officiating: an old story
The 76ers aren’t the first team to have issues with the officiating in the NBA Playoffs.
The Houston Rockets believed officiating in the 2018 Western Conference finals cost them an NBA championship, and in a report since sent to the league, tabulated the net result of 81 potential missed calls and non-calls in Game 7 of that series between Houston and the Golden State Warriors, according to the report and an accompanying memo.
“Referees likely changed the eventual NBA champion,” said the memo, addressed to the NBA’s president of league operations, Byron Spruell. “There can be no worse result for the NBA.”
The Rockets never ended up sending the memo to Spruell, because they ended up communicating its messages — including that they believe officiating cost them the 2018 title — during in-person meetings with league officials, according to multiple league sources.
They did present the league with their analysis of Game 7. As first published by The Athletic after the Warriors’ controversial Game 1 win in the conference semifinals, the Rockets’ analysis uses the NBA’s own official interpretation of the officiating in that Game 7.
The full report listed 81 total calls, non-calls and violations. It concludes that those 81 instances cost Houston a total of 18.6 points in that game.
It remains to be seen what data the 76ers have detailing officiating discrepancies across the first two games of their series against the Knicks.
Game 3 is set for Thursday from Philadelphia.
More must-reads:
- Knicks guard joins NBA royalty in closeout win against 76ers
- Clippers will need to fight for their playoff lives in Game 6 without injured star
- The 'Highest career PPG in the playoffs' quiz
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