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Joel Embiid was not happy with the officials following the Philadelphia 76ers brutal Game 2 loss to the New York Knicks, which saw the Sixers squander a 5-point lead with about 30 seconds left in the game thanks to back-to-back three-pointers from Jalen Brunson and Dante DiVincenzo.
One of the key moments down the stretch, certainly as far as the Sixers are concerned, is that head coach Nick Nurse attempted to call a timeout prior to Brunson’s three-pointer to make the score 101-99.
The Sixers feel so hard-done-by thus far in the series that they are filing a grievance with the NBA over the officiating in the first two games, according to a team spokesperson.
“I called timeout. The referee looked right at me, and ignored me. Tyrese Maxey got the ball. I called timeout again, he ignored me again,” Nurse said after the game.
“Everybody on the floor was trying to call a timeout… But you know, forget about a timeout. There’s a bunch of fouls. Like I said, that’s f—— unacceptable,” Embiid told the media after the loss.
watch nick nurse call a timeout and get absolutely ignored pic.twitter.com/cMDmOnb9Cn
— drew (@sixersruinedme) April 23, 2024
Despite clearly being hobbled by injury, the 30-year-old defending NBA MVP still put forth a dominant performance as he posted 34 points, 10 rebounds, and 6 assists.
The Sixers will now have two days to lick their wounds before hosting the Knicks for a series-defining Game 3 in Philadelphia on Thursday, April 25.
Famously, no team in NBA history has ever come back to win a series after falling behind 3-0, making Thursday’s game a must-win for the Sixers. Furthermore, only four of the 151 NBA teams to fall into a 0-3 hole (to date), only four have forced a Game 7. All four then lost that Game 7.