The New York Knicks escaped Detroit on Sunday afternoon with a wild victory from a point, which pushed They have a 3-1 advance in their series of opening playoffs With the pistons.
The victory, however, only came after a controversial non-appeal in the last seconds who sent the head coach of the pistons, JB Bickerstaff, to assault the officials on the Little Caesars Arena field while the Knicks players celebrated. It was so blatant that the officials calling the match admitted their error later on Sunday.
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The pistons had the ball in one point with 11.1 seconds to play and sought a potential game winner. The piston star Cade Cunningham fired a left elbow, but was out of the brand. After a race for the ball under the rim, the pistons expelled it to Tim Hardaway Jr. in the area – which had just enough time to put a blow before the survey.
But, while Hardaway fought first, he established a lot of contacts from the Knicks goalkeeper Josh Hart when he went up. Hardaway has actually been introduced into a row of photographers on the basic line, and its shot completely missed the edge. But the official who was held right next to Hardaway and Hart did not call a fault.
So the Knicks then escaped with the 94-93 victory. Bickerstaff instructed the officials to shout the officials for not calling a fault there, but they simply ignored it and left the field. Knick players simply celebrated around them.
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But after the match, even the officials admitted that they had made a mistake.
“During the live game, it was judged that Josh Hart did a legal defensive play,” said team leader David Guthrie said Asked about the final game. “After an post-match exam, we observed that Hart establishes body contact which is more than marginal in Hardaway Jr. and a fault should have been called.”
Hart did not hesitate to admit that he came across Hardaway either.
“Did I get in touch with him? Yes, I contacted him,” said Hart. “Was it legal? I don't know. We are going to let the two -minute report say that. He fired, I felt like I was somehow arrived. I felt like I was a little directly … at the end of the game, it's difficult – especially this kind of game, flying bodies. ”
Anyway, it is too late now to change anything. The Knicks, despite the missed call, came out of Detroit with the victory.
Jalen Brunson, who left the match briefly in the second half with what looked like a bad leg injury, led the Knicks with 32 points and 11 assists. Karl-Anthony Towns added 27 points and nine rebounds, and Hart finished with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Although the Knicks won the victory, the pistons exceeded them by 16 and upgraded them in the 16 -point painting.
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Cunningham collected 25 points, 10 assists and 10 rebounds for Detroit. He is now only the second player in the history of the franchise to have an eliminatory triple-double. Tobias Harris added 18 points and eight rebounds, and Hardaway collected 14 points. He went only 4 out of 13 of the arc.
The Knicks will have a chance to close the pistons in match 5 at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday evening at Madison Square Garden.
