Two weeks after narrowly losing a game in Houston following a blown last-second call, the Knicks benefited from a missed call late in a two-point home victory over Detroit on Monday.
As Omari Sankofa II of The Detroit Free Press and Tim Bontemps of ESPN detail, the Knicks were trailing 111-110 in the game’s final minute and lost control of the ball with 10 seconds left. As Pistons guard Ausar Thompson began dribbling up the court, Knicks wing Donte DiVincenzo dove into him, jarring the ball loose (Twitter video links). No foul was called on DiVincenzo as the Knicks recovered the loose ball and Josh Hart scored the game-winning basket en route to a 113-111 victory.
“Where’s the New York media now?” Pistons head coach Monty Williams said after the game. “The absolute worst call of the season. No call. And enough’s enough. We’ve done it the right way, we’ve called the league, we’ve sent in clips. We’re sick of hearing the same stuff over and over again. We had a chance to win the game and a guy dove into Ausar’s legs, and it was a no-call.
“That’s an abomination. You cannot miss that in an NBA game, period, and I’m tired of talking about it, I’m tired of our guys asking me, ‘What more can we do, coach?’ That situation is Exhibit A to what we’ve been dealing with all season long, and enough’s enough.
“You cannot dive into a guy’s legs in a big-time game like that and there be a no-call. It’s ridiculous, and we’re tired of it. We just want a fair game called. Period. And I’ve got nothing else to say. We want a fair game, and that was not fair.”
In the pool report conducted by Brian Mahoney of The Associated Press after the game, crew chief James Williams admitted that the officials got the call wrong.
“Upon postgame review, we determined that Thompson gets to the ball first, and then was deprived of the opportunity to gain possession of the ball,” Williams said. “Therefore, a loose ball foul should have been whistled on New York’s Donte DiVincenzo.”
Pistons guard Cade Cunningham described the team as “livid” after the game, while Thompson admitted he was surprised when the play continued without a foul being called.
“I was very confused when I was on the ground and the play kept going, I’m not going to lie,” Thompson said. “But, I mean, that’s how it goes.”
As Sankofa writes, the officiating has been a sore spot for Williams and the Pistons all season — the club has been whistled for an NBA-high 21.9 fouls per game while losing 49 of 57 contests. Still, Williams’ post-game comments on Monday were his strongest indictment yet of a game’s referees and seem likely to warrant the league’s attention.
Williams was fined last March when he was coaching the Suns for his comments about the officiating following a loss to the Lakers, but hasn’t faced any penalties from the league for his comments to the press so far this season. That could change as soon as later today.
Simple. The NBA doesn’t want everyone to see NY lose at home to the Pistons. They keep the game close for excitement but need to blame the refs by saying they missed a call to look face. It’s all entertainment people. Silvers product is so obviously fixed. Stern rolling over laughing in his grave. “I did it much better”
Why would the NBA care if the Knicks lost a regular season game to the Pistons?
If anything they’d want Pistons to win to give their fans a glimmer of hope. Knicks fans are not going to defect because of one close loss.
gamblers would care
The original comment was that it’s in the NBA’s interest for the knicks to win at home. Nothing to do with gambling.
Yes, gamblers care about the outcome. Are you suggesting the refs had money on the game? Or Silver is having games fixed?
I have seen more bad refs in the last 2 years then before. Now that NBA is sponsored by the gambling industry their influence can reach out. The poorest person on the court is the Refs. NBA could fix things by make the rules more specific not marginal contact is OK sometimes and not other times. Should not having fouls be judgement calls.
Yes it does have to do with gambling. It also has to do with image since it’s their first game against each other since the trade. The NBA doesn’t want the Pistons to win in NY. Stop trying so hard to sound right lol D.
If you knew NBA history then you would know of the ref In the 90s who was betting on games and fixing them. You should know the ref admitted to fixing games as well. You should also see with your eyes that silver is doing it because of all the new sponsors and gambling. No way NY takes a L like that especially the Pistons. The NBA doesn’t care about giving hope to Pistons fans lol. Try to understand my comment instead of assuming your own opinion. It’s fixed because of Money…. Gambling. The original comment does have that of you knew anything.
The NBA is rigged for entertainment and money along with new gambling introduced by Silver.
Oh yeah lil D by the way wrestling isn’t real either.
The NBA thinks their image is defined by a regular season game that isn’t even nationally televised? Lol that tinfoil hat is cutting off your circulation champ.
If the league is fixed and unwatchable then why do you still follow it and comment here? Says volumes more about you than Adam Silver lmao
Valid Question Lil D, valid question
Read it again P brain. Stuck on one word
Solid answer, Luke. Looking forward to more insightful comments.
Try having some real insight lil D instead of just throwing hate. Try reading something then commenting on it. Next time don’t try so hard
Calls are always all over the place. The opposite of this happened to the Cavs on Sunday. Kyle Kuzma tripped over his own feet while driving to the basket and ran into Jarrett Allen, who caught him instead of letting him faceplant. Got two free throws. Incredibly dumb call.
Officiating in general this season has been beyond terrible.
I agree officiating has bee horrible the last few years. Even the game announcers at times cannot believe fouls that are called and ones not when clearly was. But rookies too much get the worse calls on them for the other team or who the player is I see at times. I would really love to say what want on the officiating. I agree with Williams enough is enough. Then refs at end say they blew it. Ridiculous
It’s funny how everyone cries over the refs but when a player takes 5 steps on a breakaway dunk nobody bats an eye. The fact is calls are missed and calls go for/against u. It’s part of the human factor.
The human factor is vital. Ppl complain but if the league had robot refs who were always 100% right, I think nba personnel and fans alike would miss human refs
Agree. Not to mention if you want to win don’t leave it up to chance in the closing seconds. You have the whole game to build a lead. Nothing is guaranteed in basketball or in life.
If you have the ball and the lead you are not leaving it to chance. A foul is a foul no matter the situation or if it happens to be a rookie with the ball.
You’re still here posting terrible takes? Wow.
Says the boyscout…
I think ppl in general overreact to the refs, ofc there’s errors but that’s part of the human element as much as the players missing shots is. Still, late game blown calls hurt, esp one this obvious. 2 minute report should start having fines/repercussions for blown calls , otherwise what is the incentive behind it? Public ‘shaming?’ Seems like a cop out for the league to ‘punish’ the refs thru simple acknowledgment
Missing a call is one thing, but Divincenzo bulldozed the player into the ground. Everyone in America saw that except the refs. Maybe the NBA needs to send the refs to referee school. These guys need a Masters degree and not an Associates degree.
Agreed that the L2M report is essentially worth nothing. Refs who rack up a given number of blown calls/no-calls that directly affect whether a game is won or loss should have to face re-training and/or assignment to the G-League in the offseason. Gives the G-League refs more of a chance to advance and keeps the refs in the NBA on their toes. Complacency is the enemy of good work in any job.
Fining coaches and players for complaining about calls should also only be done if the call is upheld on review. If it’s called out in the L2M, there shouldn’t be any consequences for complaining.
The ref’s union would never go for that, even though I agree that there needs to be more transparent accountability for such mistakes.
No union ever wants reasonable proposals if it forces accountability. That doesn’t change that is what should happen.
What is wrong with the refs? The Pistons should have at least 10 wins by now.
Love how ESPN has an article about how great the Knicks are to win that game. Tells you everything you need to know.
Scott Foster. That’s all I need to know refs fix nba games
So considering they admitted the refs blew it, the inevitable fine levied against Williams will be because he was correct?
Crappy teams coached by horrible coaches don’t get any calls… that’s the NBA’s response back to the Pistons
I think that NBA refs should be required to answer questions in a press conference after the game. That would resolve many issues. Scott Foster would either change or be out of the league in 2 months if he had to answer for his professional decisions.
Monty sucks ……. crying for what exactly. He’s not coming back next yr. One more win for what. Pistons will still have worst record.
That play was a loose ball. Watch it. Thompson lost the dribble after one dribble. Which means he never had possession. So it’s a loose ball. Donte went for ball not his legs. Thompson dove late. That’s why they banged. It was a good no call …….
Ausar made a rookie mistake. You don’t dribble that. You grab it and get possession. The gm is on the line. It was a good no call. Monty has to blame refs. Cause he hasn’t done anything wrong.
He is so fired…… he’s blowing smoke.
Jalen Brunson was in Aaron Holiday’s landing space
This modern NBA game is about as fast-paced as can be, I give some slack to some missed calls by the refs …… but holy F, that was about as horrendous as KD not being out-of-bounds.
The two situations don’t cancel each other out. There’s a big difference between a call and a non-call. It’s too much to expect Refs to see every foul. But it’s NOT too much to expect that they won’t call a foul unless they (in fact) see a foul. Officiating is a form of rule enforcement, similar to law enforcement, and thus should follow the latter’s maxim that it’s better to let 10 that are guilty go unpunished, than to punish even 1 innocent.
So, even 9 more of these make-up non-calls doesn’t balance the books. Although, what would, is the NYK on the winning side of a last second phantom call, like HOU was.