NBA says Tyrese Maxey traveled before converting four-point play late in the Sixers’ Game 5 rally
The report also says a play involving Josh Hart late in overtime should not have been called out of bounds.
According to the Last Two Minute Report released by the NBA on Wednesday, officials missed several calls during the New York Knicks and Sixers’ wild Game 5 finish, including one on Tyrese Maxey’s four-point play that sparked a late rally, scoring seven points over a 17-second span.
The report stated that Maxey, who scored a game-high 46 points in the 112-106 win, traveled on the play that pulled the Sixers within two points with 25.1 seconds remaining. Officials say Maxey “gathers the ball on his left foot, takes two legal steps, and then moves his right foot again just before he is fouled on his shot.”
After Josh Hart missed one of two free throws on the ensuing Knicks possession, Maxey fired a 34-foot three-pointer to tie the game at 97 with 8.1 seconds left that sent the game to overtime.
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That wasn’t the only call that didn’t go in the Knicks’ favor, either. The report says in overtime, off a Jalen Brunson miss with the Sixers ahead, 108-106, with 41.5 seconds left, that Hart’s attempt to save the ball along the baseline should not have been ruled out of bounds. “Hart remains in bounds when he makes contact with the ball near the baseline to save it from going out of bounds,” the report said.
The Sixers didn’t capitalize, ending the next possession with a Nico Batum turnover, but Brunson would also turn the ball over with 18 seconds left in the game, allowing Tobias Harris to ice the game from the free-throw line.
This isn’t the first time in this first-round series that referees admitted to missing several calls late in a game. After the Sixers’ Game 2 loss, when the Knicks closed the game on a 8-0 run over the final 27.1 seconds, Maxey was fouled twice while trying to catch and secure an inbounds pass with less than 30 seconds to play. In addition, Sixers coach Nick Nurse should have been granted a timeout during that the sequence that led to Donte DiVincenzo’s go-ahead three-pointer in the Knicks’ 104-101 win.
» READ MORE: NBA admits several officiating errors in the final two minutes of the Sixers’ Game 2 loss to the Knicks
Game 6 is scheduled for 9 p.m. Thursday at the Wells Fargo Center. The Knicks lead the series, 3-2.