Skip to content
Sixers
Link copied to clipboard

It’s not just Philly fans. Even LeBron and Knicks fan Stephen A. Smith think the Sixers got robbed.

The Sixers are filing a grievance with the league over the officiating in the series. James and Stephen A. Smith agreed that the refs blew some calls.

Sixers guard Tyrese Maxey appeared to be fouled as he tried to pull in an inbounds pass in the closing seconds of Game 2 against New York.
Sixers guard Tyrese Maxey appeared to be fouled as he tried to pull in an inbounds pass in the closing seconds of Game 2 against New York.Read moreYong Kim / Staff Photographer

Nick Nurse and Joel Embiid were livid about the officiating Monday after a Game 2 playoff loss to the Knicks, and they made their displeasure known postgame. The Sixers went so far as to file a grievance with the league over the officiating in the first two games of the series.

“I call timeout, referee looked right at me, ignored me,” Nurse said after the 104-101 loss to New York at Madison Square Garden. “It went in to Tyrese [Maxey], I called timeout again, then the melee started. Yeah, needed a timeout there to advance it, would’ve been good, but couldn’t get it.”

But it’s not just the Sixers who feel like they got a raw deal on Monday.

After a Monday night game of his own against the Denver Nuggets, Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James called out the replay review center in response to a missed foul on D’Angelo Russell, and also commented on the concerns with officiating in the Knicks-Sixers series.

“D-Lo clearly gets hit in the face on a drive,” James said. “What the [expletive] do we have a replay center for if it’s going to go ... it doesn’t make sense to me. It makes no sense to me. It bothers me. ... And then I just saw what happened with the Sixers-Knicks game, too. Like, what are we doing?”

Even dedicated Knicks fan Stephen A. Smith, who sat courtside during Monday’s game at the Garden, said Tuesday morning on ESPN’s Get Up! that the Sixers got jobbed.

“I saw Tyrese Maxey get mugged, if I’m being totally honest,” Smith said. “He got fouled at least two or three times. There’s no reason on earth why that call shouldn’t have been made. It wasn’t made, unfortunately for the Sixers. If you’re a New York Knicks fan, it’s not unfortunate.”

Of course, Sixers fans were livid.

Now, the series is heading to Philadelphia. Between the grievance and the home crowd, will the Sixers see their officiating fortunes turn?