The NBA has acknowledged that it overlooked several critical calls during the tightly contested Game 2 between the New York Knicks and the Philadelphia 76ers last Monday, April 22, at Madison Square Garden in New York.
The Knicks secured a narrow victory, 104-101, after rallying from a five-point deficit in the final minute with crucial three-pointers from Jalen Brunson and Donte DiVincenzo.
However, the NBA's Last Two-Minute Report for the game revealed that four critical calls were missed in the final minute of play, any of which could have had a substantial effect on the game's result.
At 1:14, Knicks forward OG Anunoby's violation of the defensive 3-second rule went unnoticed. Just moments later, with 34.7 seconds remaining, Sixers star Joel Embiid's foul on DiVincenzo was not called, resulting in Brunson's initial three.
Then, at 27.0 seconds left before a Sixers inbound play, Brunson's action of pulling Sixers star Tyrese Maxey's jersey should have resulted in a foul call.
A missed foul call led to the Knicks game-winner
Finally, with only 24.9 seconds on the clock, Knicks guard Josh Hart's movement forward into Maxey's space caused him to lose balance, fall to the floor, and commit the turnover, leading to DiVicenzo's go-ahead three.
Sixers head coach Nick Nurse also expressed frustration, claiming he called a timeout that the referees did not acknowledge during this sequence.
However, the NBA later stated that the officials' decision not to grant the timeout was correct because the Sixers did not have clear possession of the ball.
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