Tom Thibodeau questions 'marginal contact on' Joel Embiid in Knicks' Game 3 loss at 76ers
Tom Thibodeau filled Thursday's postgame news conference, after the Knicks' 125-114 loss at the Philadelphia 76ers in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference first round, with brief answers.
A few questions about how the first matchup away from MSG was officiated, though, led to more free-flowing comments.
While discussing Jalen Brunson's improved play following a 39-point outburst, Thibodeau compared "marginal contact" on the point guard, who shot 12 free throws, to Joel Embiid's 21 attempts.
"I'll look at it again and I'll send my clips in like I do every game and then they'll say marginal contact, and then we'll have marginal contact on Embiid and he'll be at the line 21 times," Thibodeau said of Brunson, adding that "a lot of those came at the end."
"So that's the way it works."
Embiid dropped a game-high 50 points, 19 of which came at the charity stripe. He was also at the center of a Flagrant 1 foul on Mitchell Robinson, who subsequently left the game with a sprained ankle.
"I think they have a pool reporter, don't they?" Thibodeau said of the play that was called a flagrant. "That might be a good question for (the official)."
A pool reporter did, in fact, speak with crew chief Zach Zarba after the game.
"In that situation, the crew gets together, we go and review the foul," Zarba said. "In this instance, the crew was unanimous along with the replay center official in Secaucus that this foul was unnecessary but did not rise to the level of a Flagrant 2. The unnecessary contact rose to the level of a Flagrant 1 but we were unanimous that this did not rise to the level of excessive contact, unnecessary and excessive, which would have been a Flagrant 2 ejection. That's why we kept it a Flagrant 1."
Ultimately, Thibodeau said that the Knicks -- up 2-1 -- must "bring it" and respond with Game 4 set for Sunday at 1 p.m. in Philly.
"Each game's going to be different, so you've just got to respond," Thibodeau said when asked if he thought that the 76ers filing a grievance affected Game 3's officiating. "This is playoff basketball. It's going to go up. It's going to escalate. And we've got to bring it. We've got to bring it.
"My thing is there's two teams, and they responded. Now we've got to respond. We've got to do a lot better. We've got to fix it."
