Dylan Backer
The New York Knicks fell just short of beating the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder Wednesday night. Despite playing hard and resilient throughout the night, a few brutal calls went against them in this one.
Knicks lose to Thunder on questionable officiating
Most notably, what seemed to be a clear charge on Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in the first quarter was ruled a play-on, leading to an easy OKC bucket and an eventual technical foul by Knicks head coach Mike Brown. Brown was enraged that a foul wasn’t called, which would’ve been Gilgeous-Alexander’s third of the first quarter and likely kept him on the bench for the rest of the first half.
Had the call been made, the game could have went in a totally different direction. Oklahoma City carried a 10-point lead into halftime and Chet Holmgren scored 22 of his 28 points in that first half due to getting clean looks from the attention Gilgeous-Alexander was drawing.
Down the stretch, Gilgeous-Alexander found his way to the line some more, and drew a handful of non-shooting fouls as well. New York had chances to win despite the unfavorable officiating, but they couldn’t pull through in the clutch despite having a fourth quarter lead.
Knicks’ Mike Brown not pleased with officiating vs. OKC
Brown expressed his thoughts on the officiating and offered his two cents on Gilgeous-Alexander’s strategy of drawing fouls.
“He does a great job of convincing the referees – probably better than anyone else in the league – that he’s getting hit,” Brown said, via SNY’s Ian Begley.
This is not the first time this season a head coach has called out his foul drawing tactics. Earlier this season, Minnesota Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch had a notable outburst during their game against the Thunder after OKC was getting more favorable calls.
Gilgeous-Alexander, the league’s reigning MVP, finished the game against New York with 26 points and eight assists. Karl-Anthony Towns fouled out down the stretch, which proved to be costly.
Up next is the Denver Nuggets, who the Knicks beat in double overtime back in February. They will look to bounce back in a big way after their heartbreaking loss to the Thunder.
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