What was supposed to be a first-round NBA playoff series has turned into a fight over referee privilege.
The Philadelphia 76ers say they do not get enough calls. So do the New York Knicks. No one is happy, a sentiment that has blocked out the strategic storylines of what is becoming a vitriolic matchup.
Finally, after a couple of hard-fought games that the Knicks snagged, the Sixers have their first victory, a 125-114 win Thursday that narrowed their series deficit to 2-1. The talk over the ensuing 24 hours has surrounded the officials.
The Knicks first brought referees into the conversation, when heading into Game 1 they added ref tendency statistics to the game notes they hand to media, a move that irked both the 76ers and the league office.
Then came the drama: A messy final few minutes of Game 2, a bonkers Last Two Minute Report that said Tyrese Maxey was fouled twice inside the last 30 seconds even though it was not called, an unofficial grievance from the 76ers, a flagrant Game 3 and fouls aplenty on Joel Embiid, which helped the reigning MVP reach a playoff career-high of 50 points on only 19 shot attempts Thursday.
But in the middle of this battle to curry favor with NBA official Zach Zarba, another plot has popped up: The 76ers and Knicks are submerged in a tight playoff series. Instead of harping on fouls or non-fouls or who is receiving the greater benefit from the whistle, let’s break down some basketball.
Here are five trends to follow as the Knicks and 76ers prepare for Game 4 at 1 p.m. (ET) Sunday in Philadelphia:
Everyone scores
For all the talk from both sides about swallowed whistles, it’s not like teams have struggled to score.
Embiid has grumbled about not receiving enough foul calls. Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau has done so on behalf of his top player, Jalen Brunson. And yet, a quick scroll through the league’s playoff leaders shows two names atop the NBA in free-throw attempts per game: Embiid is first and Brunson is second.
Meanwhile, both of their teams can’t stop scoring.
Because the pace has been slow, it’s not so obvious, but both the Knicks’ and 76ers’ attacks have overpowered defenders. These two teams rank first and second in the NBA in points per possession during the playoffs.
The Knicks have dominated not just with shooting but also on the boards. Josh Hart refuses to miss 3s. The group has nailed more than 40 percent of its deep balls through three games. Most importantly, it is grabbing rebounds on 40 percent of its missed shots, a monstrous start to the postseason. For perspective, no team has secured this many offensive boards during a playoff run since the 2013-14 Houston Rockets.
Demolishing the Portland Trail Blazers on the glass wasn’t enough for the Rockets to survive that series, which ended in six games on a Damian Lillard buzzer-beater. The 76ers are trying to exterminate the Knicks similarly.
They have paraded to the free-throw line. Maxey has sliced New York apart with his speed and stepbacks. Meanwhile, Embiid is showing why he’s more than just a low-post giant or foul baiter. Playing with a still-injured knee, he has relied more on his jumper. All he’s done in that time is nail 38 percent of his 3s and 12 of his 20 mid-range shots.
Targeting Brunson
An unfortunate theme for the Knicks popped up during the third quarter of Game 3.
The Sixers caught fire, roaring to 43 points on 17-of-22 overall shooting and 9-of-12 long-range shooting. And the way they created many of those looks, ones that wove their jump shots into silk, was with a needle poking the Knicks’ best player.
Philadelphia placed Brunson in screening actions aplenty during the third period. The Knicks did not respond well enough to it.
Once the Sixers forced Brunson — who went for 39 points, making Game 3 his best of the series — to switch to one of their best offensive players, they attacked. On one play early in the second half, they forced Brunson onto Embiid, who swished in a nonchalant jumper over him. Brunson is a foot smaller than the reigning MVP, too short to bother his shot.
Not long later, the 76ers forced Brunson to switch onto Maxey, who drained a step-back 3-pointer over him. Maxey’s stepback, a hand-me-down from when James Harden was his teammate, has become one of the league’s best. Give him space, and it’s a good shot.
Philadelphia continued to pick at Brunson.
The Knicks could rejigger matchups come Game 4. They could refuse to concede switches with as much ease. Either way, there could be some type of adjustment from how they defended during this period when the Sixers went off mostly because of their own doing. It takes impressive shooting to drain nine 3s in a quarter. But the little resistance Brunson provided did not help.
Guarding Embiid
The person who deserves the most credit for Embiid’s 50-point performance in Game 3 is not the referee. It’s Embiid. Has there ever been a player his size who could hurt a knee, step away from a more physical style because of it and still rev for so many points just because of a hot jumper?
Embiid shot 13 of 19 in that game; 10 of his makes came from outside the paint. He sank 5 of 7 3-point attempts and 5 of 6 midrange shots. The Knicks were in his face on many of those plays. It did not stop him from swishing shot after shot.
But, as Thibodeau repeated after Game 3, the Knicks can do better.
It’s a wonder if Mitchell Robinson will play on Sunday. New York’s backup center departed Thursday’s game at halftime after spraining his left ankle, the same one that underwent surgery in December. The team will not release the injury report until Saturday afternoon.
If Robinson sits, defending Embiid becomes more challenging.
The Knicks have leaned away from double-teaming the 7-footer throughout this series, instead using Isaiah Hartenstein and Robinson, two defensive-minded centers, to push him out of the paint and guard the big fella on their own.
What they can’t do is invade Embiid’s space, which Hartenstein got caught doing more than once in Game 3, when both he and Robinson entered early foul trouble.
“I should’ve done a better job knowing how much was talked before (Game 3) about (officiating),” Hartenstein said. “I was just trying to be physical, do my normal thing. They were just calling more fouls. But that’s more on me. It’s not really on the refs.”
One of Hartenstein’s greatest defensive developments this season has been the way he’s cut down on fouling, which has allowed him to play more minutes and has helped him against guys like Embiid. He credits the adjustment to guarding more with his chest and feet than his hands.
A defender has to be especially cognizant of that while manning a preeminent foul drawer such as Embiid, who shot 19 of 21 from the line in Game 3.
The best defensive possession on Embiid from Thursday came from neither of the Knicks’ two regular big men. Shortly after Precious Achiuwa entered the game, the first time he stepped on the court during this series, he matched up against Embiid one-on-one. Robinson was not yet ruled out, but he and Hartenstein were both in foul trouble.
The Knicks needed a scrappy Achiuwa moment.
This is what they got. Watch him defend Embiid with his hands up, not out, making it more difficult for Embiid to draw a foul:
Achiuwa provided massive minutes down the stretch of the first half. He blocked a shot in help defense and punched out an offensive board that led to a second-chance bucket, along with pulling off that defensive play on Embiid. If he has to play in Game 4, the Knicks will need more of that.
Hartenstein’s floaters
Hartenstein has not eclipsed 33 minutes in a game in nearly three months. If Robinson can’t go in Game 4, that trend may need to end Sunday.
Whether he plays 20 minutes or 40, it’s worth watching how the Sixers defend him.
Philadelphia has guarded Hartenstein with Embiid mostly, dropping Embiid back near the rim on pick-and-rolls. This has allowed Hartenstein to navigate to his cushiest areas, six or eight feet away from the rim, where he can loft up those sky-high floaters.
The 25-year-old first became comfortable with the teardrop as a little kid. His father, Florian Hartenstein, who played professionally in Germany, was an old-school big man, a gritty rebounder and a post defender. But Florian wanted his son to create better opportunities for himself. He wanted him to be more skilled.
One of the first moves he taught Isaiah was that floater. Now, it’s one of Hartenstein’s go-to moves when a defense exposes the belly of the paint.
The Knicks have figured out how to weaponize it.
Over the past six quarters, Hartenstein has attempted 11 floaters. He’s made nine of them. Teammates have found him out of pick-and-rolls or when they dart into the paint from the baseline. Embiid is at his best while guarding around the rim, but if Hartenstein continues to splash in these push shots, do the Sixers make more of an effort to force him elsewhere?
Hart’s shooting
Josh Hart’s newfound shooting touch has the origin story of a Marvel hero. It wasn’t long ago that he couldn’t put up a jumper at all, let alone make one.
Earlier this month, back when he was dealing with an injury to his right wrist, Hart shied away from shooting entirely. He didn’t attempt a 3 for a game and a half. The moment that snapped the streak may have also inadvertently turned him into the next JJ Redick.
As the halftime buzzer sounded during a game in Milwaukee, Hart heaved a full-court shot at the basket. It missed but he said that night he felt his wrist click back into place upon releasing it. Before the start of the third quarter, he approached Brunson.
“I can shoot 3s now,” he told him.
Even Hart must not have known how extreme it would get.
Hart has hit four 3s in each of the first three games of this series. He’s now 12 of 23 (52 percent) from deep against the Sixers. But he didn’t just happen to get hot at the start of the playoffs, though he wasn’t shooting nearly this much at the end of the regular season. The streak began during that moment in Milwaukee.
Since Hart told Brunson that he could shoot 3s now, he is 17 of 34 from downtown.
It’s as if the basketball gods chose to remake the movie “Rookie of the Year” with someone who was already a pro.
(Photo of Isaiah Hartenstein, Joel Embiid and OG Anunoby: Elsa / Getty Images)
