Here’s the best angle from last night of Nick Nurse calling timeout while Tyrese Maxey is on the floor:

It’s clear as day! He calls timeout and Tyrese Maxey still has the ball. Two refs right there had the opportunity to award it.

Now did Nurse blend in with the crowd by wearing dark colors which made it hard to see? Possibly. Is he going to come out in a suit designed by Clyde Frazier to get the attention of the refs in Game 3? He might have too. It’s like when the NFL kept flagging Landon Dickerson for offsides during the Tush Push because they thought his arm was Jason Kelce’s. I said at the time Kelce should wear some colorful wrist tape or a sleeve to discern the two. Nick Nurse might come out in the wildest jumpsuit for Game 3 and I’m all for it.

Before we go further, go rewatch the inbound sequence and realize how bad NBA officiating is. Look at all the calls they missed in a 5 second span:

– Missed push off by Maxey
– Missed foul on Brunson
– Missed travel by Maxey
– Missed Nurse timeout

No one is asking NBA refs to be perfect, but we just want them to be consistent. Especially when there was a betting scandal involving one of their own. I’m convinced the Sixers are going to win Game 3 and the whistle is going to favor them. Adam Silver is going to make the call and get Scott Foster or Tony Brothers in there to even things out. Embiid might have 50 and 30 of it could come from the line. Now back to Nick Nurse.

If I put my unbiased cap on and really analyze this I’m awarding Nick Nurse with one timeout at the end here. The one where Tyrese Maxey is on the ground. I think he pump fakes this first timeout when the Sixers were having trouble getting the ball in:

If you’re not currently at home reading this in your Sixers PJs sipping coffee out of your Trust the Process mug, I think you should understand why they didn’t award him a timeout during the inbounds play.

The Sixers are still filing a grievance though based on the officiating from Game 1 & Game 2 and the fact that they were the most disadvantaged team during the regular season according to the L2M report:

Now typically I’d think this is typical zero accountability loser shit from the Sixers, but the details caught my eye from Kyle Neubeck at PHLY.com:

Philadelphia has a laundry list of concerns they want to present to the league, including but not limited to the following:

    • The Sixers were disadvantaged by two calls in the last two-minute report from Game 1 — an incorrect no-call on a foul from Mitchell Robinson on Tyrese Maxey, and an incorrect no-call on a traveling violation committed by Jalen Brunson
    • Philadelphia believes Nick Nurse called for a timeout twice on the inbounds pass that swung the game in the final minute, once prior to the inbounds pass and once following the ball getting to Tyrese Maxey on the floor
    • The Knicks have included private information about the referees in their game notes
    • The Sixers have been the most disadvantaged team in the last two-minute report this season. A report compiled in early April showed that the Sixers had been disadvantaged on 22 calls in these reports during the regular season compared to 11 such errors going against opposing teams, the worst such ratio in the NBA.

Private information on the refs? What the fuck is that? Does Thibs have a couple goons sitting outside in a blacked-out Escalade of each referee’s house? How private is this private information? This sounds like blackmail. I did some digging and it looks like the crew was Courtney Kirkland, John Goble, Gediminas Petraitis, and John Butler. Here are their records when calling a Knicks game:

Kirkland: 41-62

Goble: 27-35

Petraitis: 14-25

Butler: 4-7

Something’s fishy. Career 86-129 record and you just so happen to have private information on these guys which doesn’t result in a timeout being awarded at the end. Sure the Sixers were up five and no team has ever squandered a five point lead with under 30 seconds to play in NBA playoff history. But still I need to know what this private information looks like.

P.S. LeSixer?