The Knicks escaped with a win over the lowly Pistons thanks to a wild final play in the closing seconds of the fourth quarter that resulted in bodies on the floor, no whistles, and a game-winning bucket by Josh Hart with less than three ticks to go.
New York was down one before Hart’s heroics, and before Donte DiVincenzo dove in on Ausar Thompson to grab a loose ball, resulting in Detroit head coach Monty Williams going off on the referees for not calling a foul on the Knicks sharpshooter.
After the game, the officials acknowledged that there should have been a foul called on DiVincenzo.
“Upon postgame review, we determined Thompson gets to the ball first, and then was deprived of the opportunity to gain possession of the ball,” the pool report said, via Stefan Bondy of the New York Post. “Therefore, a loose ball foul should have been whistled on New York’s DiVincenzo.”
For the Knicks, they got to experience such a controversy from the other side, as just weeks ago, Jalen Brunson was called for a foul on a 3-point attempt in a tie game with less than one second left in regulation, leading to a Rockets win. The officials afterward admitted to getting the call wrong, and New York awaits word on whether the league will accept its protest.