April 23, 2024
Vincent Carchietta/USA TODAY Sports
Tyrese Maxey dominated the New York Knicks for much of Monday night's Game 2 before the Sixers collapsed in epic fashion. Maxey had a chance to take the lead in the game's final seconds but could not convert at the rim.
There were fewer than 30 seconds left in the game, and the Sixers were right there: Tyrese Maxey had authored another signature fourth quarter eruption, Tobias Harris did his best Scottie Pippen impression on the defensive end of the floor down the stretch, Joel Embiid did just enough and Kyle Lowry filled in the gaps.
The Sixers led the New York Knicks by five points in Game 2 of the first round of the Eastern Conference Playoffs when all hell broke loose. Jalen Brunson, who the Sixers have bottled up for two entire games, threw up a desperation three from the corner. The ball hit the rim, bounced high up in the air and dropped through the net. Before he was the beneficiary of some incredible luck, the Knicks' All-Star guard had made just seven of his 28 field goal attempts. That shooter's bounce was responsible for his only three-point make of the entire game.
The Sixers had to protect a two-point lead with 27 seconds remaining. Sixers head coach Nick Nurse attempted to call a timeout, but his attempt was unsuccessful. Lowry was forced to make a risky inbounds pass, which Maxey caught with a leap over a double-team of Brunson and Josh Hart.
Brunson grabbed Maxey's jersey, replays have shown, but the officials did not see it. They did see what it caused: Maxey fell to the floor. Once this happened, Nurse again attempted to call a timeout, but apparently failed to obtain the attention of the referees. Hart quickly was able to grab the ball out of Maxey's hands, quickly dishing it to Knicks sharpshooter Donte DiVincenzo, who was wide open on the wing for a three.
Here's Nick Nurse repeatedly calling timeout and the referees ignoring him the whole time https://t.co/WyMLtfc911 pic.twitter.com/eSHzdPJgkW
— Daniel Olinger (@dan_olinger) April 23, 2024
DiVincenzo missed the initial look, but an offensive rebound by Knicks center Isaiah Hartenstein revived the possession. Seconds later, it was DiVincenzo launching from beyond the arc once again, and this time he connected.
All of a sudden, 13.1 seconds remained, and the Sixers were losing.
You probably remember the rest by now: the Sixers ran one of their favorite plays for Maxey, one that generated a game-tying, buzzer-beating basket for the All-Star guard as recently as 16 days prior. It got the Sixers' guard who contains blazing speed downhill with a chance to retake the lead. It was unclear if his layup attempt was actually deflected physically or just altered by Hartenstein, but the Knicks' center came up with a crucial defensive stand against the guy who had been lighting up his team for the second consecutive game.
Two OG Anunoby free throws and a long missed three by Embiid later, it was over. The buzzer sounded, the sold-out crowd at Madison Square Garden erupted, and the Knicks rejoiced: they have successfully defended their home floor and earned a 2-0 series lead before they to Philadelphia, with a crucial Game 3 scheduled for Thursday night.
Nurse, Embiid and Maxey were all visibly frustrated during their postgame media availabilities. The Sixers' head coach and reigning MVP did not pull punches as they discussed their displeasure with the way those last 27 seconds, while their mild-mannered fourth-year guard was predictably able to hold back any harsh words.
"Unacceptable," Embiid called the referees' supposed mistakes, though he reiterated that he remains confident that his team will emerge from the series victorious.
From the moment Nurse's press conference began to the moment the Sixers' locker room was closed for the night, the shock and frustration within the team was palpable. It is understandable. That is an absolutely stunning, crushing and devastating fashion to lose any game, let alone a game in the NBA Playoffs that appeared to be in the bag after having lost the prior contest.
A Sixers spokesperson has told various media sources -- first Kyle Neubeck of PHLY -- that the team plans to file a complain to the NBA regarding the officiation in not just the final moment of Game 2, but the entirety of each of the first two games of the series.
The Sixers must sleep off the pain and prepare for Thursday night's Game 3 -- and they probably will, because they do not have any other choice.
Any complaint or grievance they file is nearly impossible to produce any sort of impact on the series -- it is not even clear if the Sixers would be protesting the result of either game, and even if they were to do so, an NBA game has not been successfully protested since 2007, and according to ESPN, that is the only time a successful protest has happened in over 40 years.
The Sixers are not going to get those catastrophic seconds back. They are headed home down 0-2. Now, it is time for them to figure out how to win four of five games against a 50-win Knicks team. To do that, they must leave this disaster in the rearview mirror.
