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| Tyrese Maxey scored 35 points in the Sixers' Game 2 loss to the Knicks on Monday. The All-Star point guard was named the NBA's Most Improved Player on Tuesday. |
In its Last Two Minute Report for the New York Knicks' miraculous 104-101 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers in Game 2 of their first-round playoff series Monday night, the NBA ruled that Tyrese Maxey was fouled multiple times during the game's frenetic defining sequence, and that 76ers coach Nick Nurse called for a timeout but the referees didn't see it.
The league said Jalen Brunson grabbed Maxey's jersey before the ball was inbounded after Brunson's 3-pointer cut Philadelphia's lead to two, and that Josh Hart then bumped Maxey as he caught the inbounds pass, sending him falling to the ground.
Maxey then committed a turnover trying to pass the ball after he fell to the ground, which led to Donte DiVincenzo missing a potential go-ahead 3-pointer and then making one that proved to be the winning shot with 13 seconds remaining.
"[Maxey] did his job," Joel Embiid said after the game, when asked whether he needed to say anything to his star guard following the turnover and a blocked potential go-ahead layup in the closing seconds. "That's on the league. That's on the NBA. That's on the frigging referees. I hate to put the game on them. But I am sure the two-minute report is going to come out and we are going to see what happened.
"But like I said, that's unacceptable. That's not on him. That's not on any of us. We fought for 47 minutes and whatever 20 seconds. For that to happen ... that's not OK."
The report also said that as Sixers point guard Kyle Lowry was inbounding the ball, Nurse was calling for a timeout but the officials didn't grant it -- as Nurse himself said to open his news conference after Monday's game.
Though the report did say Nurse tried to call a timeout a second time, that one shouldn't have been granted because Maxey didn't have control of the ball at that point.
"Well, the first thing is obviously they score," Nurse said. "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 into Tyrese, I called timeout again. Then the melee started.
"I guess I got to run out onto the floor or do something to make sure and get his attention, but I needed a timeout there to advance it. Would've been good.
"But, couldn't get it."
In addition to those calls, the Last Two Minute Report said two other calls were missed: an Embiid foul on DiVincenzo in the moments before Brunson's 3-pointer, and a defensive three seconds violation by Knicks forward OG Anunoby with just over a minute remaining.
None of that changes the ultimate result, however, as New York has taken a commanding 2-0 lead in its best-of-seven series with Philadelphia behind the remarkable comeback, which saw the Knicks become the first team since 1996 to come back from down five within the final 30 seconds of a playoff game and win in regulation, per SportRadar.
And while the NBA admitted the calls were missed, the 76ers will not be able to get the end of the game replayed. The Knicks tried a similar maneuver earlier this year when referee Jacyn Goble made an incorrect call on Brunson fouling Houston Rockets guard Aaron Holiday at the end of a game in Houston, only for New York's protest to get denied because it could not demonstrate that there was a misapplication of the playing rules, rather than human error.
The last successful protest was in 2008, when the Miami Heat won a protest of a loss to the Atlanta Hawks after Shaquille O'Neal fouled out of a game but had only committed five personal fouls, causing the final 51.9 seconds to be replayed at a later date.
Game 3 of the series will be Thursday night in Philadelphia, with Game 4 to follow Sunday afternoon.
- Tim Bontemps, ESPN
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