Philadelphia 76ers guard Tyrese Maxey stole the show Tuesday night, scoring seven points in the final 25 seconds to force overtime and eventually defeat the New York Knicks in Game 5 of their first-round playoff series at Madison Square Garden.
But on Wednesday, the NBA revealed in its Last Two Minute Report that one of Maxey’s game-changing plays in the final minute shouldn’t have counted. He traveled before launching a three-pointer from 25 feet with 25 seconds remaining.
“Maxey gathers the ball on his left foot, takes two legal steps, and then moves his right foot again just before he is fouled on his shot,” the report indicates.
Instead, no traveling violation was called, and Maxey drilled the three-pointer and the free throw to cut the Knicks’ lead to two points.
If the travel had been called, the Knicks would’ve been awarded the ball with a six-point lead and 25 seconds left. The 76ers would be forced to foul, and the game likely ends in a Knicks win if they avoided turnovers and knocked down free throws.
The Last Two Minute Report also indicated that Knicks guard Josh Hart was not out of bounds with 41 seconds left in overtime when he tried to tap a loose ball to teammate Isaiah Hartenstein underneath the basket.
Instead of Hartenstein getting a chance to tie the game at 108, it was ruled a turnover. The 76ers went on to outscore the Knicks 4–0 the rest of the game to secure the victory.
The Knicks, up 3–2 in the series, will get another chance to end Philadelphia’s season on Thursday in Game 6 at Wells Fargo Center.
One point. That’s all there was to separate the New York Knicks and Philadelphia 76ers after a thrilling six-game series that ended with New York’s series-clinching victory Thursday night. The Knicks scored 650 points in the series. The Sixers scored 649.
This series had everything. It had spectacular individual performances, like Joel Embiid’s 50-point game, Tyrese Maxey’s 46 and Jalen Brunson’s four straight games with at least 39 points. (The last player to score 39 in four straight playoff games? Michael Jordan.) It had electrifying finishes, like Maxey’s clutch shot-making in Game 5. It had local animosity as the two nearby rivals met in the postseason for the first time in 35 years and Knicks fans invaded Philadelphia.
Game 6 might have been the best of the series. When the Knicks jumped out to a 33–11 lead in the first quarter, they seemed poised to cruise to victory. But then the Sixers came storming back and, after 17 second-quarter points by Buddy Hield, took a 54–51 lead into halftime. Hield was the most unlikely of heroes. He hadn’t played in either of the previous two games after scoring just two points in limited action in the first three games of the series. He knocked down five of his seven three-point attempts in the quarter and out-scored the entire Knicks team by himself.
Hield’s incendiary quarter made it a new game, and by the middle of the third quarter the Sixers managed to stretch their lead to 10. But the Knicks didn’t blink and with a 22–12 run over the final six minutes of the third were able to tie the game at 83. That led to a back-and-forth fourth quarter that featured four ties and three lead changes.
To borrow a word from Knicks announcer Walt Frazier, Brunson was the catalyst in the fourth. He had 14 points in the quarter, twice as many as any other Knicks player, and scored or assisted on eight of the team’s 13 made field goals. It was just the latest in a series of superstar performances from Brunson, who has cemented himself this season among the game’s elite players. He finished the game with 41 points on 13-of-27 shooting and also added 12 assists.
But the beauty of this Knicks team is that, while Brunson undeniably leads the way, they have a solid backbone of role players who are equally crucial to their success. In Game 6 it was Brunson’s former Villanova teammates Josh Hart and Donte DiVincenzo. Hart had 16 points, 14 rebounds and seven assists, and DiVincenzo had 23 points, seven assists, three blocks and two steals. DiVincenzo played all 48 minutes of the game and was tasked with being the primary defender on Maxey. After Maxey torched the Knicks for 46 points in Game 5, he managed just 17 on 6-of-18 shooting Thursday.
The Sixers posed a more difficult challenge for the Knicks than a 7-seed usually does for a 2-seed. That’s because Philadelphia was forced to play without Embiid for much of the season and thus its record did not accurately reflect the quality of the team when at full strength, which it was in the postseason after Embiid (although hobbled at times by his knee injury) was able to return. Either of these two teams could have reasonably expected to reach at least the conference finals, so it’s a shame that one of them had to be sent packing so early. No matter which team won the series, it would have been crushing for the loser to exit in the first round. But the quality of both teams made for one of the best first-round series in recent memory.
The NBA’s Last Two Minute report from Game 1 of the series between the New York Knicks and Indiana Pacers is going to be a doozy.
The Knicks won the game, 121–117, behind another explosive scoring night from Jalen Brunson, who had 43 points to become the first player since Michael Jordan to score at least 40 points in four straight playoff games. But the Knicks also benefited significantly from several questionable officiating decisions down the stretch in a tight game.
The most crucial and most controversial was the offensive foul call on Pacers center Myles Turner with 12.1 seconds left. The play came immediately after a Knicks turnover gave Indiana new life, with New York leading 118–117 and the Pacers able to hold the ball for the last shot. Tyrese Haliburton brought the ball across halfcourt, guarded by Donte DiVincenzo. Turner came up to set a screen on DiVincenzo and DiVincenzo crumpled to the floor as if he’d been stuck by a cattle prod. Turner was whistled for a moving screen, giving the ball back to the Knicks and effectively ending any hopes of a Pacers comeback. (The Pacers challenged the call but it was upheld on review.)
NO WAY!!! Refs called this an offensive foul on the Pacers. Pacers challenge the call but how is this called with 12 seconds left? #INDvsNYKpic.twitter.com/jlx9DYkyeE
Were Turner’s feet still moving when he set the screen? Sure. Slightly. By the letter of the law, it’s a foul. But it’s a marginal call at best, and not the type of foul that usually gets called at that stage in a playoff game.
“I think it’s best when the players decide the outcome of the game,” Turner said after the game. “I think it’s unfortunate that it happened. We reviewed it; they still called it an illegal screen. But it’s the playoffs, man. I feel like DiVincenzo did a good job of selling it. For the most part you can’t leave the game to be decided by the refs. So we have to take accountability as well. Of course it’s right after the game, I’m a little fresh in my emotions about it, but we know, at the end of the day, we can’t get to that position.
“The Last Two Minute report, we’re all looking forward to that coming out. I think there was two controversial calls. We had to use our challenge on one call on Tyrese [Haliburton]. And then the kickball by Aaron Nesmith that was not a kickball—you can clearly see it on the replay.”
While the moving screen call is debatable, there’s no doubt that Turner is right about the missed call on Nesmith. With 52 seconds left to play and the score tied at 115, Brunson tried to sneak a pass to DiVincenzo in transition. Nesmith deflected the pass, but the officials ruled that he did so with his foot, which is illegal, and the Knicks retained possession. In fact, video shows that Nesmith clearly deflected the pass with his hand, but the call was not reviewable.
The refs called this a kick ball… THE REFS CALLED THIS A KICK BALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! pic.twitter.com/ew7zOP8lE7
The blown call denied the Pacers a fastbreak opportunity in the final minute of a tied game. Instead, immediately after the Knicks got the ball back, DiVincenzo hit a dagger three. Crew chief Zach Zarba told a pool reporter after the game that the call was incorrect.
The bad calls weren’t the only reason the Pacers lost. One other reason was that Haliburton made several questionable decisions in the final minutes (he had three turnovers in the last four minutes of the game). But when playing against a quality opponent in a raucous road environment, it’s next to impossible to win when you also have to overcome uneven officiating.
The other game on Monday night was equally interesting, but not equally competitive. In Game 2 of their series, the Minnesota Timberwolves eviscerated the Denver Nuggets, 106–80, to take a 2–0 lead in the series.
The result was notable for a few reasons. First of all, Minnesota was playing without center Rudy Gobert, who was away from the team awaiting the birth of his first child. Even without Gobert, the favorite to win his fourth Defensive Player of the Year award, the Timberwolves’ defense still held Denver to its fewest points since Game 7 of the 2020 first round against the Jazz (an 80–78 win for the Nuggets).
The loss also marked just the second time during the Nikola Jokić era that the Nuggets lost back-to-back home playoff games. The only other time was when the Phoenix Suns finished off a four-game sweep in Denver in the 2021 second round. The Nuggets were nearly unbeatable at home during their championship run last season, losing just one game in Denver (Game 2 of the NBA Finals against the Miami Heat). But the T-Wolves are just that good. Anthony Edwards and Karl-Anthony Towns were excellent again in Game 2, combining for 54 points on just 32 shots. It’ll be an uphill battle for the Nuggets to come back and win the series after squandering home-court advantage so dramatically.
Murray (top) looked completely frustrated during Denver’s Game 2 loss to Minnesota.
The New York Knicks eliminated the Philadelphia 76ers from the NBA playoffs Thursday night, scoring a 118-115 win in Game 6 to take the first round series 4-2. The Knicks fans who made the trek to Philadelphia for the game were not shy afterwards, unleashing a "f--- Embiid" chant as they made their way to the exits.
Video of the incident is below, but be warned it contains some bad language.
“Fuck Embiid” chants at Wells Fargo Center after the Knicks eliminate the Sixers pic.twitter.com/9q1LyJ7Wxy
Embiid faced accusations of being a dirty player during this heated series. In Game 3, he was assessed a Flagrant 1 foul for an incident involving Knicks center Mitchell Robinson. During an awkward sequence, Embiid fell to the ground attempting to draw a foul. When the whistle didn't blow, he grabbed Robinson's right leg out from under him. Robinson eventually left the game with an ankle injury. New York guard Donte DiVincenzo called the play dirty, and Knicks fans were irate.
During the Sixers' 112-106 overtime win in Game 5, Embiid hit Knicks' star Jalen Brunson in the head on a late drive. He was called for Flagrant 1 for unnecessary contact to the face. After those two incidents, Knicks fans will almost certainly regard him as a dirty player for the rest of his career, hence the post-Game 6 chant.
Embiid was excellent in the series, averaging 33.0 points, 10.8 rebounds, 5.7 assists, 1.5 blocks and 1.2 steals in 41.5 minutes per game. He dropped 50 points in that Game 3 win, had 34 in Game 2 and 39 in Game 6. It was an incredible performance in a losing effort by the 2023 NBA MVP. But no one will recall those numbers. Instead, they'll remember the two flagrant fouls.
The Knicks-Sixers series was competitive, contentious and incredibly entertaining. It was exactly what you'd expect from a budding NBA rivalry. That made the victory even more sweet for Knicks fans, who let their feelings for Embiid be known after the series was won.
