Sixers

Somehow, this is a Foul on Matisse Thybulle

By Kevin Kinkead

Published: Jun 7th, 2021 · 11:04 AM EDT

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Doc Rivers challenged this call on Sunday afternoon and the refs did not overturn it.

You should have heard the boos in the arena:

They called this a foul on thybulle? Lol. pic.twitter.com/sSZTa9SWwt

— Let's talk NBA (@NBArath23) June 6, 2021

Said Rivers after the game:

“I thought Matisse picked up (a cheap foul). I was very surprised, and I’m gonna have to get an explanation on how that call wasn’t overturned. I don’t know what more solid defense you can have, and they still gave the kid two free throws. We have to chat, because it felt to me like Trae was the one initiating most of the contact with his hands and pushing off. But we were the ones that just kept getting fouls. Either we’re doing something wrong or we have to figure out how to make sure that’s called on him as well.”

An explanation? Well, if we’re trying to figure out what the zebras are looking at here, I guess they whistled Thybulle for bringing his left arm down on Young’s right arm. He makes contact, but it’s hardly egregious, and Young feels that contact and pushes off, as players have been trained to do these days. Joel Embiid swings into contact whenever he feels it, and gets a lot of bullshit calls as well.

More than anything, it’s just not basketball. There are too many of these calls, and it all changed when the hand-checking rule was altered, and offensive players got a big advantage against good on-ball defenders. Too much ticky-tack stuff here when guys are moving their feet and playing quality defense with minimal contact.

The zebras should explain themselves. Put the refs in the bagster!