The NBA referees have caught a lot of flak for their officiating blunders this season. And one of the most egregious examples of this occurred recently during Game 2 of the first-round playoff series between the New York Knicks and the Philadelphia 76ers. After the 76ers dropped 2-0, the league released the last two-minute report, acknowledging that the referees made four incorrect no-calls in the final moments of the game. The Knicks, who have also been on the wrong end of some questionable calls this season, made sure to cover their bases to avoid this mishap.

The Knicks have taken transparency to a new level with their new “Pregame Referee Breakdown” section in the game notes released to the media. This feature provides details about the officiating crew and their tendencies through clear statistics on the frequency of violations they call and how often they are challenged. Just like they did in the last two games, the Knicks have released the referee breakdown for Thursday’s game as well. According to the New York Post’s Stefan Bondy, the referee trio for tonight includes Zach Zarba, James Williams, and Kevin Cutler.

Zach Zarba, the crew chief for the contest, is one of the league’s younger officials. Interestingly, he has a tendency to whistle more fouls against the Knicks compared to his average over the last three years. Kevin Cutler, the umpire in the game, also seems to have a similar pattern, calling more fouls on the Knicks than usual. On the other hand, James Williams’ statistics reveal that he tends to call fewer fouls on the Knicks than his typical rate. This will be an interesting game to watch after the previous game’s controversy.

The New York Knicks vs. Philadelphia 76ers officiating controversy

The last encounter between the two teams had a controversial finish. The Sixers looked like they were going to tie the series record, but the final 30 seconds flipped the switch. It all started with a three-pointer by Jalen Brunson that cut the 76ers’ lead to 101-99. As Kyle Lowry inbounded the ball to Tyrese Maxey, he was swarmed by Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart and fell to the ground, with Hart then stealing the ball away from him.

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The game’s last two-minute report revealed that during this sequence, Brunson grabbed Maxey’s jersey, affecting his ability to secure the pass, while Hart initiated lower-body contact, causing Maxey to lose his balance and fall to the floor. However, despite these infractions, no fouls were called during the game. Even coach Nick Nurse and the bench’s attempts to call a timeout were “neither recognized nor granted by the officials.” This gave the Knicks possession of the ball and ultimately led to the game-winning sequence, with Donte DiVincenzo hitting a go-ahead 3-pointer to put the game to rest.

The L2M also highlighted two other calls that went unnoticed. One was a defensive three-second violation on OG Anunoby and the other was a personal foul by Joel Embiid and DiVincenzo. What are your expectations from Game 3’s officiating trio? Let us know in the comments!