PHILADELPHIA — The Sixers aired their grievances but did nothing else about it.
Despite their list of issues surrounding the Game 2 loss — mostly with the refereeing — Philly let the deadline pass without filing a formal protest, multiple sources confirmed.
In the regular season, they would’ve had 48 hours after the game. In the playoffs, a protest “must be filed not later than midnight of the day of the game protested,” according to the NBA’s guidelines. The Sixers didn’t attempt a formal protest.
The Sixers were upset with multiple non-calls toward the end of the Game 2 defeat, including the referees swallowing their whistles when Tyrese Maxey was fouled off an inbounds down the stretch. The NBA acknowledged some of the calls were wrong but there was never a chance the result would be reversed or the game replayed.
According to Philly writers, the Sixers list of problems included:
- Two calls in the last two-minute report from Game 1 went against the Sixers.
- The fact that the Sixers have been the most disadvantaged team in the NBA this season based on last two-minute reports.
- The Knicks included detailed referee information in their game notes for the first two games of the series.
- The Sixers believe they should have been awarded a timeout at multiple points during a key inbounds play and possession late in Monday’s loss.
The Knicks, who filed an unsuccessful formal protest of a regular season game in February, continued to release their “pregame referee breakdown” ahead of Thursday’s Game 3.
Josh Hart made a very late and successful tweak to his jump shot.
After struggling all season from long distance, the Knicks forward said he adjusted aspects of his form right before the playoffs and in anticipation of getting open looks in Nick Nurse’s defensive scheme.
It has worked out quite well with 12 treys in three games on 23 attempts.
“Not to be too technical but just where the release point is, how my shoulders are, making sure they’re square, making sure I’m on balance,” Hart said before scoring 20 points in Game 3, “those kinds of things.”
Hart’s 52 percent 3-point rate in the playoffs is well above his 31 percent for the regular season, which was a career low.
“When you do that you’ve got to fix it,” Hart said. “Got to tweak some things, fix some things. So that’s what I was doing.”