The Knicks narrowly escaped a physical and thrilling game four in Detroit with a 94-93 win, but it didn’t come without its share of controversy.
With New York clinging to a one-point lead with 11 seconds to go, the Knicks dug deep on the defensive end and forced two missed shots, a jumper from Cade Cunningham and a missed 3-pointer in the corner from Tim Hardaway Jr. as the buzzer sounded.
Josh Hart contested Hardaway Jr.’s last-second shot, and after it fell well short, the Pistons were livid that Hart wasn’t whistled for a shooting fall. Detroit head coach J.B. Bickerstaff was incredulous, hustling down to the other end of the court to give the officials an earful as the Knicks celebrated a comeback win and a 3-1 series lead.
When Coty Davis conducted the pool report after the game, referee David Guthrie revealed that Hart should have been whistled for a foul, which would have resulted in three free throws for Hardaway Jr. and a golden chance to even the series for the Pistons.
After postgame review,” Guthrie said, “We observed that Hart makes body contact that is more than marginal to Hardaway Jr. and a foul should have been called.”
When asked about the play, Hart jokingly said he would wait to see the NBA’s two-minute report, which is typically released the morning after a game to examine what calls the officials got right and which were missed during crunch time.
“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 officiating was a main storyline throughout the wild game four, as many pointed to the game’s physicality and lack of foul calls on both sides. the end result was a bruising one-point win for the Knicks, who rode the heroics of Karl-Anthony Towns and Jalen Brunson to victory.
Towns provided the game winner via a deep 3-pointer with 46 seconds left, though Bickerstaff believes the game should have ended with Hardaway at the foul line.
“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.”