6/6 🧵 Still, the ugly truth for Philly: even subtracting New York’s extra free-throw makes doesn’t erase the loss. Embiid had 18 and 6, the Sixers are down 3-0, and they’re one loss from another playoff exit at the hands of the Knicks.
The whistle annoyed them. The scoreboard buried them.
5/6 🧵 The flashpoint came late in the third. Philly cut the lead to 80-76, then Quentin Grimes was called for a questionable foul on Jalen Brunson, who sold the contact like he was auditioning for Broadway.
Brunson hit two free throws. Philly missed twice. Landry Shamet buried a three. Knicks up 85-76 entering the fourth. Brutal swing.
4/6 🧵 The Knicks’ 32 attempts were partly inflated by Hack-a-Mitch. Mitchell Robinson alone shot 8 free throws because Philly intentionally fouled him.
But even if you remove those, New York still had 24 attempts to Philly’s 16. That’s still a 50% edge, so Embiid’s complaint isn’t pure fantasy. Just not the whole story.
2/6 🧵 The core gripe: free throws. New York took 32. Philadelphia took 16. Embiid argued the Sixers aren’t a jump-shooting team; they attack the rim, put the ball on the floor, and should not be getting half the whistle.
His line — “I guess it’s good when New York wins” — is doing a lot of work there.
1/6 🧵 Embiid didn’t just complain about the whistle — he implied the NBA likes the Knicks winning. That’s the headline, and with Philly down 3-0 after a 108-94 Game 3 loss, it reads less like gamesmanship and more like a team running out of oxygen.
6/6 🧵 Still, the ugly truth for Philly: even subtracting New York’s extra free-throw makes doesn’t erase the loss. Embiid had 18 and 6, the Sixers are down 3-0, and they’re one loss from another playoff exit at the hands of the Knicks.
The whistle annoyed them. The scoreboard buried them.
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#threadstorm
5/6 🧵 The flashpoint came late in the third. Philly cut the lead to 80-76, then Quentin Grimes was called for a questionable foul on Jalen Brunson, who sold the contact like he was auditioning for Broadway.
Brunson hit two free throws. Philly missed twice. Landry Shamet buried a three. Knicks up 85-76 entering the fourth. Brutal swing.
4/6 🧵 The Knicks’ 32 attempts were partly inflated by Hack-a-Mitch. Mitchell Robinson alone shot 8 free throws because Philly intentionally fouled him.
But even if you remove those, New York still had 24 attempts to Philly’s 16. That’s still a 50% edge, so Embiid’s complaint isn’t pure fantasy. Just not the whole story.
3/6 🧵 Context matters, though. Philly actually had the free-throw edge in Games 1 and 2: 62-42 overall, including a massive 34-17 advantage in Game 1.
So this wasn’t a series-long Knicks whistle. It was Game 3 flipping hard the other way, at the worst possible time for the Sixers.
2/6 🧵 The core gripe: free throws. New York took 32. Philadelphia took 16. Embiid argued the Sixers aren’t a jump-shooting team; they attack the rim, put the ball on the floor, and should not be getting half the whistle.
His line — “I guess it’s good when New York wins” — is doing a lot of work there.
1/6 🧵 Embiid didn’t just complain about the whistle — he implied the NBA likes the Knicks winning. That’s the headline, and with Philly down 3-0 after a 108-94 Game 3 loss, it reads less like gamesmanship and more like a team running out of oxygen.