NBA officials admit to pivotal missed foul call at end of Knicks-Pistons game
Things got heated at the Little Caesars Arena on Sunday and no, it was not a pizza.
After the Detroit Pistons' 94-93 loss to the New York Knicks in Game 4 of their playoff series, NBA officials publicly acknowledged there was a missed foul call in the closing seconds of the game that might have changed the outcome.
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As Pistons' Tim Hardaway Jr. attempted a 3-pointer on the final play of the game, referees said a foul call was missed on Knicks' Josh Hart.
"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."
A foul call would have given Hardaway three free throw attempts with 0.3 seconds left.
Hart admitted after the game 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 Pistons were up 93-91 with under a minute to go until New York center Karl-Anthony Towns knocked down a step-back 3-pointer to give them a one-point lead.
With just over 11 seconds left, Pistons guard Cade Cunningham missed a jump shot. After a lot of loose-ball chaos, Hardaway got the ball in the corner and pump-faked before heaving it up.
Hart bit on the fake and jumped into the right side of Hardaway's body as he was in the act of shooting.
After the game, Detroit head coach JB Bickerstaff was seen arguing with the refs and sounded off about the apparent no-call to reporters.
"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."
With the loss, the Pistons are on the verge of elimination after the Knicks took a 3-1 series lead.
New York All-Star guard Jalen Brunson scored 32 points while Towns added 27 points.
Both Brunson and Towns were asked about the end of the game. While Brunson did not comment, a smiling Towns looked forward to the next game.
"What do you want me to say? View of what?" Towns said. "Going back to Madison Square Garden. Happy we got a win. You like that answer? Is that good?"
Game 5 is scheduled for Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. ET.
