PHILADELPHIA — Officiating was on the mind of some after the Philadelphia 76ers fell to the Milwaukee Bucks on Thursday. Tyrese Maxey had 30 points, but he only took three free throws despite constantly being aggressive and getting into the paint.
Maxey took a number of hits and it appeared he should have been at the line much more often. He is an All-Star, after all, and All-Stars get the benefit of the whistle in games such as that one.
After Maxey went 11-for-12 from the line in Saturday’s win over the Charlotte Hornets, coach Nick Nurse was asked about how Maxey is officiated.
“There’s certainly a level of frustration, and I think that — and I always tell the refs, too, I don’t really care if they’re not going to call them, but you can’t be calling tap fouls for another guy on the other team the whole game,” Nurse said. “You know, when we’re barely scraping on or you’re not even sure they got him on the elbow or really late little bump or all the way through.”
To be clear, officiating isn’t why the Sixers lost to the Bucks. Philadelphia had its chances to put that game away when it went up by double digits, but didn’t capitalize.
However, when Maxey is doing everything he possibly can to get a call while Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo is shooting 18 free throws, it can get a little ridiculous.
“If you’re not going to call them, you’re not going to call them,” said Nurse. “That’s what I’m down with or if you’re going to call them, you’re going to call them, right? It shouldn’t ever be one guy is going in there and barely getting touched and another guy’s getting crashed into and it’s not that way. That’s my only thing and we can adjust either way.”
Maxey will eventually get star calls in this league. That’s how it goes in the NBA. A star gets calls others will not. It is what it is, but the Sixers will just have to continue to play through the whistle and execute their schemes to win games.
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