Why are the Philadelphia 76ers filing a complaint about the referee’s performance?

The situation for the Sixers basketball team is worsening as they find themselves down 2-0 in the playoffs. They suffered a devastating loss against the Knicks with a score of 104-101. Joel Embiid addressed the media from the visiting locker room and expressed confidence in his team’s ability to turn things around. He said, “We’re good, we’re going to win this series. Let’s win it. We know what we have to fix. Today, we did a better job, so we are going to fix it. We are the best team, and we are going to continue fighting.”

In the game’s final stretch, it appeared that the Sixers had secured victory, tying the score. With only 47 seconds left on the clock, the Philadelphia team was ahead by five points on the scoreboard after Kyle Lowry made one of two free throws. However, the Knicks managed to turn the game around in just 14 seconds. Brunson scored a three-pointer with the assistance of DiVicenzo. After a lousy kickoff by the Sixers, Hart seized the opportunity to steal the ball and pass it to DiVincenzo, who attempted a three-pointer that didn’t go in. Hartenstein then took the offensive rebound and hit another opportunity for the Delaware guard. DiVincenzo scored the three-pointer on the second occasion, putting the Knicks in the lead.

During the game, there was a controversial incident with 14 seconds remaining of the game. The coach of the Philadelphia team, Nick Nurse, called a timeout, but the referee did not acknowledge his signal. This led to a barrage of complaints from Nurse, Joel Embiid and Batum, but the referee ignored them. After the game, Nurse commented on the incident, saying, “Well, the first thing is for them to score. We focused on getting it in quickly. We didn’t get it. I called a timeout, and the referee looked at me and ignored me. He went to Tyrese, I called a timeout, and then the melee began.”

During the game, the Sixers coach desperately called a timeout to prevent the New York team from making a comeback. He said, “I guess I have to run out onto the court to roll around or do something to ensure I get his attention.” However, he could not get the referee’s attention and could not call a timeout. The coach was disappointed because he knew a timeout had helped his team overtake the opponent. Additionally, there were complaints about a shirt grab on Maxey that the referee did not call. This happened just before the ball went into the basket, so if it had been called, the three points on the scoreboard would not have been added to the opponent’s score.

The players also protested against the referee and did not at all agree with the referee’s decisions during those seconds: “Everyone was trying to call a timeout on the court,” Embiid said. “Me included. The coach is on the sideline. But they didn’t give it to us.” And he added: “But, forget about time out. There are a lot of mistakes. That is fucking unacceptable,” he concluded. The Knicks did not refer to the 76ers’ words at any time: “We don’t give up,” Hartenstein said. “We were down by two, we had to be as physical as we could, try to get the steal, and that’s what we did,” Josh Hart said.

Joel Embiid was also asked about the situation of Tyrese Maxey, who hours before was a doubt for the match due to illness: “he did his job. That’s the league’s fault. It’s the NBA’s fault. It’s the damn referees’ fault. I hate to put the game on them, but I’m sure the two-minute report will come out, and we’ll see what happened.” The player stated. “But as I said, it is unacceptable. It’s not his fault. It’s not any of us’s fault. We fought for 47 minutes and 20 seconds. For that to happen... it’s not right.”

The Philadelphia 76ers are planning to file a complaint with the league about the refereeing in the first two games of their series against the New York Knicks. They have also expressed concern about the Knicks, including statistics about the referees in their game notes. It’s unclear if this violates any league rules, but it is unusual. This is not the first time something like this has happened to a team with Daryl Morey as president. When he was president of the Houston Rockets in 2018, his team also filed a complaint about the refereeing after a loss to the Golden State Warriors. While the complaints will not change the result of the games, the Sixers are now facing a 2-0 deficit. However, center Joel Embiid remains confident that his team can come back, stating, “I’m not frustrated. Actually, I’m fine. We’re going to win this.”