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Ref Report Says Jayson Tatum’s Push-Off on Tyrese Maxey Wasn’t a Foul
By Kyle Pagan
Published:

Don’t know how Jayson Tatum can extend his entire arm and it not be an offensive foul, but the L2M Report from the NBA decided the refs made the correct non-call:
According to the NBA’s L2M report, the offensive foul on Joel Embiid against Marcus Smart was a correct call while the Jayson Tatum push-off against Tyrese Maxey was a correct no call.
— Austin Krell (@NBAKrell) May 8, 2023
You be the judge:
JAYSON TATUM, OH MY ! pic.twitter.com/wC2jY2R4eI
— Ahn Fire Digital (@AhnFireDigital) May 7, 2023
If that was Marcus Smart getting shoved like that, he’d be in the third row.
“Tatum (BOS) and Maxey (PHI) come together and Tatum goes to, not through, Maxey’s space as he releases away from the contact at the start of the drive.”
Fine, if that’s the determination, then isn’t this play from Game 3 similar? You can’t say Joel Embiid went through Smart here while also realizing they came together the exact same way:
Celtics fans: "Joel Embiid is a horrible player because he flops"
Marcus Smart: pic.twitter.com/z3LASpPasH
— Nick 🥔 (EAGLES AND 76ERS SUCK 😔) (@PotatoCam69) May 6, 2023
I think the L2M reports are the biggest crocks of shit. At the end of the day, it’s the NBA looking at calls made by their employees. If you really wanted fans to believe they’re done in good faith, the NBA would hire an independent council to handle these. Like if I was in roofing and just put in a new roof on someone’s house and a month later it caved in, and my company came out to assess the damages, don’t you think they’d blame it on the builders and the framework of the house? There’s no chance they’re not passing the buck and risk getting sued to oblivion. The NBA is covering its own ass. They’re the same people who continue to employ Scott Foster even after Tim Donaghy made over 100 calls to him while he was betting on games.
Kyle writes blog posts and does Man on the Street-style videos all around Philadelphia. He graduated from Temple University (a basketball school) in 2015. contact: k.pagan@sportradar.com