NBA Playoff Controversy: Referees Miss Crucial Call in Pistons’ Loss to Knicks
A contentious no-call on the final play of Sunday’s game between the Detroit Pistons and the New York Knicks has sparked outrage, with the NBA acknowledging that a foul should have been called on the Knicks’ Josh Hart. The missed call has significant implications for the series, with the Knicks taking a 3-1 lead.
According to The Guardian, the incident occurred with 0.3 seconds left in the game, as the Pistons trailed by one point. Tim Hardaway Jr was fouled by Hart as he shot a jump shot from the left corner, but no call was made. The NBA subsequently admitted that a foul should have been called, which would have awarded Hardaway three free throws.
"You guys saw it," Hardaway said after the game, speaking to reporters. "Blatant."
The Knicks’ victory was sealed on the same play, leaving the Pistons fuming. The NBA puts out a review of all calls in the final two minutes of games decided by three points or fewer, with those reports released the day after the game. In this case, the NBA had crew chief David Guthrie speak to a reporter and explain what happened.
"During live play, it was judged that Josh Hart made a legal defensive play," Guthrie told the media after the game. "After postgame review, we observed that Hart makes body contact that is more than marginal to Hardaway Jr and a foul should have been called."
Hart himself did not dispute that he made contact with Hardaway. "Did I make contact with him? Yeah, I made contact with him," Hart said. "Was it legal? I don’t know. We’ll let the two-minute report say that."
The incident has raised questions about the role of referees in high-stakes games. Detroit coach JB Bickerstaff was visibly angered by the no-call and approached the officiating crew, but he had no recourse to challenge the call. The Pistons had used their challenge earlier in the game, and even if Bickerstaff still had the challenge, it would not have mattered – technically, no call was made, so he could not have challenged.
"There’s contact on Tim Hardaway’s jump shot," Bickerstaff said. "I don’t know any other way around it. There’s contact on his jump shot. The guy leaves his feet, he’s at Timmy’s mercy. I repeat, there’s contact on his jump shot."
The Pistons had the ball with 11.1 seconds left, down by one. Cade Cunningham missed a jump shot with 7.4 seconds remaining, and after a scramble, the ball ended up in Hardaway’s hands in the left corner. Hardaway ball-faked to get Hart into the air, and Hart clearly made contact with the right side of Hardaway’s body as he was in the act of shooting.
As reported by The Guardian, elsewhere on Sunday, Jaden McDaniels converted a three-point play with 39.5 seconds left for the lead and stole the ensuing inbounds pass from LeBron James, leading a rally by the Minnesota Timberwolves for a 116-113 win over the Los Angeles Lakers that put them up 3-1 in the first-round series.
The Boston Celtics also took a 3-1 lead in their series against the Orlando Magic with a 107-98 victory. In Sunday’s late game, Myles Turner scored 23 points and the Indiana Pacers won 129-103 to grab a commanding 3-1 lead in their Eastern Conference playoff series with the Milwaukee Bucks, who lost Damian Lillard to a lower left leg injury.
Knicks star Karl-Anthony Towns was asked for his view of the play after the game. "What do you want me to say? View of what?" Towns said, smiling. "Going back to Madison Square Garden. Happy we got a win. You like that answer? Is that good?"
The series will continue with Game 5 in New York on Tuesday, with the Knicks looking to seal a win and move on to the next round.
Source: The Guardian
