Category: NBA

If it wasn’t clear before Game 4, Jalen Brunson’s play on Sunday removed any doubt that he’s the best player in this Knicks-Pistons series. 

Brunson had 15 points and two assists in the fourth quarter to lead the Knicks back from a 10-point deficit in the Game 4 win. He finished with 32 points on 50 percent shooting, 11 assists, two turnovers and two free-throw attempts. 

This is no slight to Cade Cunningham, who is an incredible young player. If he remains healthy, Cunningham is going to be one of the top guards in the NBA for a long time. But to say Cunningham is the best player in this series is to ignore what’s happening on the court. 

Another Knick outplaying his competition? Tom Thibodeau. The oft-criticized head coach pushed the right button often in Detroit this week. 

After taking just three shots in the second half of Game 2, Karl-Anthony Towns has gotten the ball – and delivered – over the past two games. 

In Game 3, the Knicks got Towns open looks from the perimeter early on. 

On Sunday, they got him touches deep in the paint.

The Knicks built double-digit leads early in both games.  

If you’re going to criticize Thibodeau for Towns’ play in Game 2, doesn’t he also deserve some credit for what Towns did over four days in Detroit?

“(There’s) a lot of people who don’t give him that credit, but I’m happy to say he puts us in position where we’re prepared, we’re ready, and he lets us play,” Brunson said on Sunday.  “… He lets us talk things out. He talks things out, too. But for the most part, he’s gonna let us play, he’s gonna let us figure it out, and we’re gonna have to figure it out together. He puts us in position to be successful, and that’s how he’s been since I’ve known him.”

The Knicks have succeeded often under Thibodeau. They have reached the playoffs in four of his five seasons as head coach. They’ve won 50 games in back-to-back seasons. Still, the stakes were high for Thibodeau coming into this series. If the Knicks failed to get out of the first round, there would have been a lot of tough conversations in the offseason. Those conversations would include an assessment of the head coach. 

But Thibodeau’s Knicks took care of business in Detroit this week. They come home with a 3-1 series edge. 

The last time the Knicks took two straight road games in a playoff series, Thibodeau was a 41-year-old assistant coach. 

Rick Brunson was a 26-year-old guard. It’s been a while. 

That Knicks team reached the NBA Finals. This Knicks team has the same championship aspirations. 

First, they have to finish off Detroit on Tuesday. No matter how it plays out that night at the Garden, you can be sure Thibodeau will have the Knicks well prepared. 

“We’re always, I feel like, one of the best prepared teams in the league,” Josh Hart said Sunday. “That’s a credit to him and his philosophy. Now we’ve gotta roll that into Game 5.” 

As the Lakers departed from the court at Target Center with their heads down, white towels were being whirled everywhere around them.

The crowd was doing more than celebrating the home team’s 116-113 victory on Sunday afternoon. The 19,289 fans here could see what was happening. They could feel what was happening.

Four games into this first-round series against the Minnesota Timberwolves, the Lakers haven’t figured out what to do.

Read more:LeBron and Lakers falter late in loss to Minnesota, moving to brink of elimination

They haven’t figured out how to stop Anthony Edwards. They haven’t figured out how to stop the Timberwolves from overwhelming them in the paint. They haven’t figured out how to stop their opponents from grabbing offensive rebound after offensive rebound.

Now, they’re down three games to one, and another defeat will finish their season.

Two days after stomach problems reduced him to practically being an on-court spectator, Luka Doncic returned to score 38 points.

That didn’t matter.

LeBron James contributed in every dimension of the game, finishing with 27 points, 12 rebounds, eight assists, three steals and three blocks.

That didn’t matter either.

At this stage of the season, against this particular opponent, their shortcomings are outweighing the strengths, and coach JJ Redick doesn’t sound as if he has any answers.

“Certainly played well enough to win,” Redick said. “Gave the effort to win.”

Redick complained about a couple of late-game calls,and he was justified in doing so, but a referee’s whistle won’t be what saves the season.

The Timberwolves present matchup problems for the Lakers, and the Lakers might not have the necessary personnel to reverse their deficit.

As well as Doncic and James played, Edwards outshined them both, scoring a game-high 43 points while also contributing nine rebounds and six assists.

The Lakers’ desperation was perhaps best represented by Redick’s second-half substitutions: There weren’t any.

“We just made a decision at halftime,” Redick said.

The team’s third-quarter starters — Doncic, James, Austin Reaves, Rui Hachimura and Dorian Finney-Smith — played the entire second half.

“Those guys,” Redick said, “gave a lot.”

The Lakers scored a series-high 36 points in the third quarter to take a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter but predictably ran out of gas against a Timberwolves team with a deeper roster.

“This is the playoffs,” Doncic said. “Fatigue shouldn’t play a role.”

That doesn’t mean it won’t.

“It was tough,” Finney-Smith acknowledged.

The team’s lack of a center came into even sharper focus, as Jaxson Hayes never reentered the game after picking up his second foul just four minutes into the game.

If the Lakers are to come back from this three-games-to-one deficit, it will start with Doncic, who was said by Redick to be throwing up “all afternoon” leading up to their Game 3 defeat.

Doncic said he spent the day between Games 3 and 4, “mostly laying down.”

“Today,” Doncic said, “I felt better.”

And the Lakers started better.

They did in the opening quarter what Redick implored them to do, which was to take better care of the basketball.

They committed only one turnover in the first 12 minutes of the game, after which they were ahead, 32-28.

They weren’t as careful in the second quarter, however.

The Lakers turned over the ball four times in the opening five minutes of the quarter. Their lead quickly vanished, and they went into halftime with a 61-58 deficit.

The Lakers deserved to be down by more, but James and Doncic kept them in the game by themselves, the two stars carrying nearly the entire offensive load as Reaves’ minutes were limited by early foul trouble.

James and Doncic scored 22 and 21 points in the first half, respectively. The last time the Lakers had multiple players score 20 or more points in a single half of a postseason game was on May 31, 2002 against the Sacramento Kings.

The two players who did it then: Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal.

Only three Lakers other than James and Doncic scored in the first half: Hachimura, Finney-Smith and Hayes.

The Lakers opened the second half with a 14-0 run, with a three-pointer by Reaves extending their lead to 72-61. They were ahead by as many as 12 points, only for the Timberwolves to do against them what they have done the entire series.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

At the end of the day, it's what happens on the floor that matters. Everything else is just noise.

And on the floor in Detroit just before the buzzer sounded in Game 4, the referees did not blow their whistle for a foul in the Knicks' 94-93 win over the Pistons to take a 3-1 series lead in the opening round of the NBA Playoffs on Sunday.

But after the game, referee David Guthrie, the game's crew chief, acknowledged that on the final play – Tim Hardaway Jr. shooting a three-pointer from the corner – the non-call for the contact made by Josh Hart after Hardaway's pump-fakeshould have been called a foul.

"During live play, it was judged that Josh Hart made a legal defensive play," Guthrie told the pool reporter. "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."

The contact wasn't hard to see, and through the Knicks' bench erupting onto the floor in celebration, the lone figure in blue, Pistons head coach JB Bickerstaff, entered the fray to confront the referees, gesticulating wildly. It was all in vain.

"There's contact on Tim Hardaway's jump shot," Bickerstaff said matter-of-factly in his postgame news conference. "I don't know any other way around it. There's contact on his jump shot. The guy [Hart] leaves his feet. He's at Timmy’s mercy. I repeat: There's contact on his jump shot."

Pistons head coach J.B. Bickerstaff was heated after this no-call to end the game 👀 pic.twitter.com/gtSvQPkVTU

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) April 27, 2025

Hart, in his typical fashion, admitted to everything but confessed to nothing.

"Did I make contact with him? Yeah. I made contact with him," Hart said, speaking from the locker room a few minutes before Guthrie's comments were made public. "Was it legal? I don’t know. We'll let the two-minute report [judge] that.

"He shot faked, I feel like I kind of got there. I feel like I was kind of straight up. He kind of jumped into me, trying to get the foul. At the end of the game, it's tough."

Hardaway needed fewer words to say more or less the same thing: "You guys saw it. Blatant."

Hart, who finished with 14 points, 10 rebounds, five assists and four steals in 42 minutes, didn't have much sympathy for Hardaway.

"We don't pay attention to it," he said of the referee's calls. "We go with whatever they call. Sometimes it benefits us, sometimes it doesn't."

But would he have called a foul there? "It went by so fast there, none of that went through my mind there," Hart said.

In a game that was noted for its physicality, there were just 17 fouls called on New York and 17 on Detroit, with the home team shooting 17 free throws to the visitors' 18.

"You wanna match their physicality," Karl-Anthony Towns, who committed five fouls, said. "It gives old-school vibes. I think this is great for kids watching who haven't been able to see old-school basketball, to see this kind of reminiscent game of old-school physicality. I'm just honored to be part of it."

Had the foul been called, Hardaway, an 85.5 percent free-throw shooter on the season, would have had three attempts to make two to win the game. Instead, he finished 0-for-1 from the line in a one-point loss.

Knicks legend and two-time NBA champion Dick Barnett died on Sunday at the age of 88.

Barnett played nine seasons in New York from 1965-66 to 1973-74. During that time, the shooting guard helped the Knicks capture two titles in 1970 and 1973 -- the team's only two championships in franchise history.

Following the news of Barnett's death, the Knicks issued a statement:

"We are terribly saddened to hear about the passing of Knicks legend Dr. Richard Barnett. Throughout his illustrious career, Dick Barnett embodied everything it meant to be a New York Knick, both on-and-off-the-court. He left a positive impact on everyone he encountered and this organization is incredibly fortunate to have him be such an integral part of its history. His jersey will forever hang in the rafters of Madison Square Garden, and his play throughout his career will forever be a part of Knicks fans memories. Our thoughts are with his family, friends and teammates in this difficult time."

pic.twitter.com/PZnymwVlmZ

— NEW YORK KNICKS (@nyknicks) April 27, 2025

In nine seasons in New York, Barnett averaged 15.6 points and 2.9 assists across 604 games. He was named an All-Star during the 1967-68 season -- his lone selection.

In 1990, the Knicks retired his jersey number 12.

Barnett spent 14 years in the NBA, playing for the Syracuse Nationals and Los Angeles Lakers before joining New York, and was enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2024.

Value each possession. Move with purpose and speed over every inch of the court. Make the right pass. Hit the big shot. Do the right thing.

Over and over and over.

These are the demands that must be met to win in the playoffs, and when you’re on the road in a building pulsating with energy such as the Timberwolves’ arena, the demands only intensify.

Every turnover can spark a highlight. Every missed rebound can reenergize. Every wrong step is one closer to the end of the season.

Read more:Hernández: Can the Lakers overcome their biggest vulnerability exposed during their Game 3 loss?

So you meet these moments with your best players, counting on them to make the biggest plays in the most stressful moments.

And Lakers coach JJ Redick met that moment by going all-in, playing his five best players for 24 straight minutes in a game where the Lakers ran out of gas in a 116-113 loss.

They will have to fight off elimination in Game 5 on Wednesday in Los Angeles, down 3-1 in the best-of-seven series.

The Lakers took the court to start the second half Sunday afternoon with Luka Doncic, LeBron James, Austin Reaves, Rui Hachimura and Dorian Finney-Smith. And then to start the fourth, all five got off the Lakers' bench.

It’s impossible to know if the heavy legs mattered when Reaves missed wide-open three-point attempts. It’s impossible to know if fatigue was the difference in clean looks at the rim for Doncic and James that both didn’t go down. And no one can know if the stress of having to dance with Anthony Edwards on the perimeter dribble after dribble, fake after fake, caused cracks in the Lakers' defense to be exposed too much.

And no one can know for sure if 22 seasons in the NBA prevented the 40-year-old James from connecting with Doncic on an inbound pass in the final 30 seconds, robbing the Lakers of a massive possession down one point.

James appeared to get one key stop late, stripping Edwards with 10 seconds left, but officials ruled James committed a foul and Edwards made a pair of free throws to provide the final margin of victory. Edwards finished with 43 points and nine rebounds.

The Lakers still made plays down the stretch, Reaves hitting a big three. James coming up with a pair of massive defensive stops and Finney-Smith hitting a go-ahead three.

Doncic, who played with a stomach bug in Game 3, looked far more like himself in Game 4. He began by attacking the basket, getting into the paint and finishing around the rim. He stretched the defense back beyond the three-point line, answering Minnesota jumpers with shots of his own, motioning for the crowd to calm down twice during the second quarter.

Read more:With Luka Doncic ailing, LeBron James' historic night can't save Lakers in Game 3 loss

James, who scored 38 in Game 3 to keep the Lakers close, was wildly efficient, using quickness and strength to get advantages against Minnesota’s excellent defense.

And even after foul trouble limited Reaves to a scoreless first half, he made five threes and scored 17 points.

But Reaves’ shot in the corner at the buzzer didn’t drop.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

Tatum makes NBA playoff history in Game 4 win over Magic originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

Jayson Tatum took over for the Boston Celtics in their Game 4 victory over the Orlando Magic and made NBA history in the process.

The six-time All-Star finished with 37 points and 14 rebounds in the Celtics’ 107-98 win. He was 14-for-14 from the free-throw line, making him 26-for-26 on FTs over his last two games.

According to Celtics stats guru Dick Lipe, Tatum is the first player in NBA playoff history with at least 35 points, 12 free throws, and a 1.000 free-throw percentage in consecutive games. He scored 36 points while making all 12 of his free throws in Boston’s Game 3 loss, a game he was initially listed as doubtful to play in due to a wrist injury.

Tatum tweaked his wrist again during the fourth quarter of Game 4. It didn’t appear to bother him over the final few minutes.

The 27-year-old recorded 16 points in the fourth and didn’t back down when Orlando got physical. He and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, whose hard foul caused his wrist injury in Game 2, got technical fouls after bumping one another, and Tatum laughed off a light shove from KCP.

Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla praised Tatum’s approach.

“Just poise. Poise. Having an understanding of your environment,” he said. “Obviously, some shot-making there, but at the same time, physical drives and getting to the free-throw line.”

Kristaps Porzingis, who finished with 19 points on 7-of-14 shooting, is impressed with the growth he’s seen from his superstar teammate since joining the C’s last season.

“The three that he hit towards the end of the game, I thought to myself, ‘This guy is special,'” Porzingis said of Tatum. “From when I got here to now, he’s developed even more of a killer instinct.”

Despite winning his first NBA championship last year, Tatum continues to play with a chip on his shoulder. After watching co-star Jaylen Brown earn Eastern Conference and NBA Finals MVP honors, Tatum finished just outside the top three in NBA MVP voting for the 2024-25 season. Not to mention, his forgettable Olympic experience has undoubtedly fueled his fire throughout the campaign.

Tatum will look to stay hot and lead the C’s to a series-clinching win at TD Garden on Tuesday night. Tip-off for Game 5 is scheduled for 8:30 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Boston.

Typically, Kawhi Leonard said after Game 4 Saturday at Intuit Dome, the four and five seeds in NBA playoff matchups are equal in many ways.

That appears to very much be the case in the fifth-seeded Clippers' first-round series against the fourth-seeded Denver Nuggets.

They have each won two games, with Game 5 scheduled for Tuesday night in Denver.

They had identical 50-32 records and split the four games they played against each other in the regular season.

Read more:Nuggets beat Clippers in Game 4 with a buzzer-beating tip-in dunk

“It’s like another four, five seeding series,” Leonard said. “You usually get some tough battles in these seedings. You guys watched the ending of the last two weeks, three weeks of the season and everybody was fighting. I think we pretty much have the same record. So, that’s how it is. The matchups might be different, different styles of play, but both teams are fighting to win.”

Three of the four games have come down to the final seconds. The Clippers lost Game 1 in overtime by two points. The Clippers won Game 2 on the road by three points. The Clippers blew out the Nuggets in Game 3 by 37 points. In Game 4, Aaron Gordon tipped in a Nikola Jokic missed three-pointer with a power dunk just before time expired to give Denver a two-point win.

The latest loss was emotionally draining for the Clippers after their rally from a 22-point deficit fell just short.

“Just bounce back,” Norman Powell said. “We know what time it is. We’ve all said it — that’s a good team over there. They’ve won a championship. They know what it takes. They got the will, they got the guys, they are not going to quit. It’s just us going back to the drawing board and seeing how we can improve.”

All five of Denver's starters played at least 42 minutes in Game 4. But they got two days off to recover.

And the Nuggets have Jokic — he’s averaging a triple-double in the series with 28.5 points, 13.5 rebounds and 10.8 assists.

Read more:Clippers guard Norman Powell trusts his work when taking big shots

"We’re going back to Denver, so I think now it’s best-of-three and the series is even and it’s completely different, I would think," Jokic said.

The Clippers are leaning on their four top players to guide them and their formidable defense.

Leonard leads in scoring (26.5 points per game), followed by James Harden (21.3), Ivica Zubac (18.8) and Powell (16.8). Zubac leads the Clippers in rebounding (11.5 per game), Harden leads in assists (9.5), Leonard leads in steals (1.8) and veteran Nicholas Batum leads in blocks (1.2).

The Clippers are holding the Nuggets to 99.5 points per game in the series, the fifth-best defense in the postseason.

“We feel good that we can beat this team," Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

With about three minutes remaining in the third quarter of a closely contested Game 4 against the Detroit Pistons, Knicks guard Jalen Brunson went to the locker room after suffering an apparent injury, with Knicks fans everywhere holding their breath.

Brunson and Dennis Schroder got tangled up after Schroder stripped the ball away, and Brunson went to the floor awkwardly, holding his lower right leg. Brunson crawled over towards the scoring table and attempted to stand up and put weight on his right leg, but was unable.

During the third-quarter break, though, Brunson came back out to the bench. As he somehow checked back into the game, the Knicks were down 10 points as Cade Cunningham hit a pair of free throws.

"I know if he can walk, he’s going to go out there and play and compete," Josh Hart said after the game.

And compete is exactly what Brunson did. After returning to the floor, potential ankle injury be damned, Brunson took over, scoring 15 points in the fourth quarter alone to help the Knicks fight back to win Game 4, 94-93 -- giving the Knicks a commanding 3-1 lead as the series comes back to New York on Tuesday.

"He’s got a great belief, and it comes from his preparation," head coach Tom Thibodeau said afterwards. "… The beauty of his game is if you watch him every night you see how special it is, but if you’re in the gym, all the things that you see in the game, those are the exact things that he works on.

"Before practice, after practice, comes back at night. So when he gets into the game, his mind, his body is already trained for it, and he does it at a game-like speed so he doesn’t have to adjust, and that’s what makes him special."

Brunson finished the game with 32 points and 11 assists, hitting four of his seven three-point attempts, including a step-back three that tied the game at 84-84 with four minutes to go.

Speaking after the game, Brunson said he was just happy to get the win, giving teammates and coaches credit for having his back while saying he never doubted his ability to get back into the game.

"Moments like that you’ve got to take a breath, you’ve got to relax and think about what’s going on," said the point guard. "I realized that I just needed to re-adjust and make sure I was mentally ready to go back into the game, because I was going back into the game. There really wasn’t a doubt, regardless of if I was stumbling or not."

The Knicks defeated the Detroit Pistons 94-93 on Sunday afternoon in the Motor City, giving them a convincing 3-1 series lead.

Here are the key takeaways...

-The story in the first half of Sunday’s matchup was the Knicks’ stifling defense. The Pistons turned the ball over 10 times in the first half, and at one point had as many field goals as turnovers, with seven apiece. Pistons star Cade Cunningham was basically a non-factor in the half, shooting 3-of-9 from the floor for six points. As a team, the Pistons were just 2-of-16 from three-point range.

-Offensively, the Knicks shared the ball well, as Karl-Anthony Towns (13), Jalen Brunson (12), and Josh Hart (10) all finished the first half in double figures, with OG Anunoby not far behind with eight points. As he typically does, Brunson set the tone and controlled the pace for the Knicks. Along with his 12 points in the first half, he also had seven assists and five rebounds, proving to be the best player on the floor.

-Just as it looked like the Knicks might pull away in the final moments of the first half, stretching their lead to a game-high 16 points, the Pistons answered back with an 11-2 run to end the half, getting the crowd back into the game and making it just a seven-point New York lead at the half.

-A huge moment came with about three minutes remaining in the third, when Brunson went down with an apparent right lower leg injury.

Brunson and Dennis Schroder got tangled up after Schroder stripped the ball away, and Brunson went to the floor awkwardly, holding his lower right leg. Brunson crawled over towards the scoring table and attempted to stand up and put weight on his right leg but was unable. But after a quick trip to the locker room, Brunson was back on the bench and checked back into the game with 10 minutes to go, and the Knicks down by nine after trailing by seven at the end of the third.

The Pistons owned the third quarter, outscoring New York 28-14, and not having Brunson on the floor for the final three minutes didn’t help matters. Cunningham led the way for Detroit, scoring 12 points by himself in the quarter.

-The Knicks wouldn't go down without a fight in the fourth, as a clearly hobbled Brunson helped the Knicks claw back. A Mikal Bridges three made it a three-point game about halfway through the quarter. The Pistons had led by as many as 11 points with about eight minutes to play. Later, Brunson nailed a step-back three on the wing to tie the game at 84-84, taking matters into his own hands.

The teams traded big shots down the stretch, with Towns hitting some key shots to make it a two-point Detroit lead with just over a minute to go. Then, after a bit of a discombobulated possession, Towns hit a 27-footer to give New York a one-point lead with 47 seconds left.

After Brunson missed a running shot off an inbound pass, the Knicks committed their foul to give, setting the stage for the Pistons, down one, with 11.1 seconds left. But as was the case earlier, the Knicks shut all windows and doors, playing tremendous defense as Cunningham missed a shot and Tim Hardaway Jr. missed a contested three, and the Knicks escaped with the win.

-Brunson finished with 32 points, 11 assists, and five rebounds, including 15 points after returning from the locker room. Towns had 27 and nine rebounds, knocking down five of his six three-point attempts. Cunningham had a triple-double in a losing effort, going for 25 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists.

Who was the game MVP?

Brunson, who remarkably scored 15 points after it looked like his afternoon might be finished with a lower leg/ankle injury.

Highlights

Josh Hart hits the three!

(via @nyknicks) pic.twitter.com/Z16foztki9

— Knicks Videos (@sny_knicks) April 27, 2025

Hart to OG 😮‍💨 pic.twitter.com/U5dg2J9vTO

— Knicks Videos (@sny_knicks) April 27, 2025

big bridges :three: pic.twitter.com/EYmg2FPCrH

— NEW YORK KNICKS (@nyknicks) April 27, 2025

YA LOVE TO SEE IT

mikal 🤝 jalen pic.twitter.com/qoHv7G1R9s

— NEW YORK KNICKS (@nyknicks) April 27, 2025

THAT'S A TUFF BASELINE SHOT KARL-ANTHONY TOWNS pic.twitter.com/dBxzDIvDvD

— NEW YORK KNICKS (@nyknicks) April 27, 2025

Upcoming schedule

The Knicks can close out the series at home with a win in Game 5, which will tip off on Tuesday night at 7:30 p.m.

Foul should have been called against Knicks at end of win vs. Pistons, NBA says originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

Detroit’s Tim Hardaway Jr. said he got fouled on the game’s final play. The NBA agreed with him.

It didn’t matter.

Referees missed Hardaway getting fouled while shooting a 3-pointer on the final play of Detroit’s 94-93 loss to the Knicks in Game 4 of their Eastern Conference first-round series on Sunday. The NBA acknowledged the mistake shortly after the game, saying a foul should have been called on the Knicks’ Josh Hart.

Had the foul been called, Hardaway would have been awarded three free throws with about 0.3 seconds left. Instead, the game ended on that play and Detroit left fuming.

“You guys saw it,” Hardaway said after the game, speaking to reporters. “Blatant.”

The Knicks took a 3-1 lead in the series, with Game 5 in New York on Tuesday.

“During live play, it was judged that Josh Hart made a legal defensive play,” crew chief David Guthrie told a pool reporter 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 didn’t 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 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. But in this case, with a pool report requested, the NBA had Guthrie speak to a reporter and explain what happened.

Detroit argued to no avail after time expired. Pistons coach J.B. Bickerstaff was clearly angered and approached the officiating crew on the floor shortly after the final shot, but he had no mechanism to challenge the call. One, the Pistons had used their challenge earlier in the game and two, even if Bickerstaff still had the challenge it wouldn’t have mattered — technically, no call was made, so he couldn’t have challenged anyway.

“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.

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?”