The New York Knicks pulled off a dramatic comeback to beat the Philadelphia 76ers on Monday night. But not without some help from the officials. As it turns out, the final minutes were marred by officiating blunders. The game’s last two-minute report showed both Josh Hart and Jalen Brunson should have been whistled for fouls on Tyrese Maxey but weren’t. The post-game atmosphere was intense, with 76ers head coach Nick Nurse and Joel Embiid visibly frustrated over the officiating mishaps. Even Nicolas Batum’s wife joined the chorus of people criticizing the referees.

Following the game, Embiid, although disappointed, was still hopeful that the Sixers were going to advance past the first round. “We are going to win this. We know what we got to fix. We did a better job today, so we are going to fix it,” he asserted. However, all Lily Batum saw and heard was “disappointment from an athlete” after a “disgusting end to the match.” 

Batum’s wife also called out fans supporting the Knicks, commenting, “The game was not won by the Knicks as far as I know, if the refereeing errors had not been made, the ending would have been different. Maybe you would have won, but at least it would have been thanks to you. Not to the two infiltrators in black.”

Another tweet she made targeted those who disagreed with her. “Lying, whining cough cough…Even the NBA confirms. But you have the Twitter pros who saw the opposite,” she wrote.

To Lily Batum’s point, the last two-minute report released by the league did clarify one thing- it was not a fair game.

What did the NBA’s L2M report say?

For a few minutes, it looked like the Sixers were going to tie the series record. But the melee in the dying seconds changed everything. Jalen Brunson bounced a three-pointer to cut Philadelphia’s lead to 101-99 with 27.1 seconds left in the game. Then, Josh Hart stole the ball from Maxey. That steal somehow led the ball to Donte DiVincenzo’s hands, who missed his next 3-pointer. But Isaiah Hartenstein’s offensive rebound gave DiVincenzo a second chance. This time, he did not miss, sinking the game-winning shot to give New York a 2-0 lead.

However, the last two-minute report shows that the game could have ended differently. During the same sequence, Hart had fouled Maxey, which should have led the Sixers to the free-throw line. But, as we know, that didn’t happen. Moreover, the league also found that right after sinking the three-pointer, Brunson pulled Maxey’s jersey away from his body, affecting his ability to secure the pass, which ultimately led to DiVincenzo’s game-winning sequence. The report also revealed that any attempts by coach Nick Nurse to call a timeout were “neither recognized nor granted by the officials.”

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