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 were aggrieved 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 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 worked out quite well in the first two games.
“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 Thursday’s Game 3 in Wells Fargo Center, “those kinds of things.”
Hart nailed 8 of his 15 treys in the opening two games of the series for a 53 percent rate, well above his 31 percent for the regular season — 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.”
Hart believed the Sixers would leave him open on the perimeter, and he was correct for the games at MSG. Hart was the Knicks’ leader in 3-point attempts and makes heading into Game 3. He was tied with Maxey for the most 3-pointers in the series.
“I knew they were going to sag off me, which is kind of the way they played the last two games of the regular season against us,” Hart said. “I knew I’d have the opportunity to shoot 6-7-plus 3s a game. I just wanted to make sure I was ready for that and I’ve been putting the work in.”
