The final minute or so of the Saturday afternoon contest between the Philadelphia 76ers and New York Knicks was an absolute cluster that seemingly took 15 minutes real time because of a number of puzzling officiating calls.
After the marathon ending, the Sixers ultimately fell 112-109 hosting the Knicks. Let me get this out of the way: I am not doing this to try to say the officiating caused the loss. The Sixers’ loss was caused by the Sixers. You don’t score go ice cold and score 13 points in an entire period against a tight opponent and expect to come back from that.
Now that that’s established, we can move on to the point of the article. With little time to stop and analyze the sometimes-confusing calls as the game was concluding in real time, now we can look back at individual plays, the calls on the floor and their impact as well as the NBA official’s Last 2 Minute Report final explanations about each.
This is the Sixers’ second time in two games with an interesting L2M report after the officials missed a relatively-obvious goaltending violation right near the end of regulation against the Houston Rockets back on Thursday. The basket, had it been scored, would have given Philadelphia a two-point lead with about three seconds to play. The Sixers ultimately won the contest in extra time, but the L2M report admitted that the no-call for goaltending was incorrect.
Now that the report for Sixers-Knicks is out, let’s go through the more controversial calls from the end of that one.
33.3 seconds to play: Offensive foul called on Jalen Brunson overturned upon challenge review to an away-from-the-play defensive foul on VJ Edgecombe
On the floor: The call here was originally an offensive foul on Jalen Brunson for the contact with VJ Edgecombe. However, the Knicks challenged and, after review, the call was changed. It was determined by officials that Edgecombe’s contact with Brunson preceded Brunson’s hook on the rookie, changing the outcome to an away-from-the-play foul (since the ball had not been inbounded yet) on Edgecombe.
The impact: This was a monumental swing, as it not only meant taking possession away from the Sixers and giving it back to the Knicks, but gave New York a free throw as well. Brunson hit the free throw, extending their lead to four points — a two possession game.
In the L2M report: The report calls the decision made after the review to be a correct call.
“Replay review of the foul called on Brunson (NYK) pursuant to a coach’s challenge was deemed successful. Edgecombe (PHI) extends his arms outward and initiates illegal contact with Brunson (NYK) off-ball, which affects his FOM. The contact from Edgecombe to Brunson occurs first and prior to any from Brunson.”
In short, they agree that the challenge outcome changing the foul from Brunson to Edgecombe was correct by game officials.
9.9 seconds to play: Defensive foul called on Paul George overturned upon challenge review to a clean defensive play with Sixers having imminent possession
On the floor: This was originally called a defensive foul on Paul George. Nick Nurse challenged and, after review, the defense by PG was determined to be clean and the Sixers’ had imminent possession (clear possession immediately following the incorrect whistle) by way of Edgecombe catching the rebound.
The impact: Hindsight is always 20/20 of course, but even in real time PG seemed to be pretty damn vertical on this shot contest. If anything, it was certainly more obvious that the Edgecombe/Brunson play. This nearly gave the Knicks free throws to extend their lead back to two possessions.
The call was changed ultimately in the Sixers favor, but at the cost of the team’s second challenge and final timeout as well as the stoppage of play itself halting a Sixers’ possible counter attack when Edgecombe had grabbed the rebound.
In the L2m report: The report called the final decision, the one made after review that George had not committed a foul, was a correct non-call.
“Replay review of the foul called on George (PHI) pursuant to a coach’s challenge was deemed successful. George (PHI) maintains verticality and absorbs the contact that occurs during Anunoby’s (NYK) layup attempt.”
So, the post-challenge decision was deemed correct, meaning the initial call was wrong.
5.8 seconds to play: No defensive foul called with Landry Shamet appearing to be trying to intentionally foul Tyrese Maxey
(Another thing to get out of the way very quickly: intentional foul or not, I think Maxey’s decision to heave this up and hope for the call was an extremely poor one. Even if you feel that contact, it’s a huge risk to rely on the whistle in that game-defining situation, plus there was enough time to just try to get a better look for the shot.)
On the floor: No foul was called on the floor and game played on, with Maxey’s airball heave landing out of bounds and giving the Knicks possession with time quickly running out.
The impact: This call, or lack thereof, made the difference between Maxey shooting two (if the defensive foul was called on the floor) or three free throws (if the foul was called as during Maxey’s shooting motion) and the Sixers getting zero free throws while losing possession with only a few seconds left to play.
In the L2M report: This was crucially determined to be an incorrect non-call by the game officials in the report. “Shamet (NYK) extends his arms forward and initiates illegal contact with Maxey’s (PHI) body in attempt to commit a take foul.” At the time, the Sixers were already in the bonus. Even if they called it a take foul on the floor, Maxey should have been shooting from the line.
3.0 seconds to play/end of game: No defensive foul called with Jalen Brunson appearing to be trying to intentionally foul Joel Embiid
On the floor: No foul was called on the floor as Joel Embiid grabbed the rebound from Brunson’s missed free throw and turned up court. Brunson appeared to possible commit an intentional foul-type grab of tapping the arm and back of Embiid before Embiid threw the ball forward, but the officials did not observe or call a foul on the play. This one, in my opinion, would have been a much closer call than the missed one on Shamet.
The impact: To state the obvious: it ended the game. The Sixers had somewhat of an opportunity, with Joel Embiid coming up with the rebound on Brunson’s missed free throw, leaving the Sixers five seconds down three points. Is it a great opportunity? Maybe not. But an opportunity nonetheless.
With no call on the play, the bounce pass attempt from Embiid to Maxey was intercepted by OJ Anunoby and game clock hit zero.
In the L2M report: The report says this was a correct non-call from the officials. “There is no clear and conclusive angle that confirms Brunson’s (NYK) contact is to Embiid’s (PHI) wrist/arm and not to the ball or the part of Embiid’s hand that is in contact with the ball.”
What did you think about the officiating from the last few minutes of the Sixers and Knicks contest? Which calls do you think they got right? Wrong? Are you satisfied by their explanations? Let us know!