NBC’s Broadcast Made a Brutal Timeout Mistake in Final Seconds of Knicks’ Loss to Hawks

The Knicks were stunned at home on Monday night, as they coughed up a late lead at Madison Square Garden and fell to the Hawks, 107-106, in Game 2 of their first round series. The series is now tied up heading back to Atlanta for the next two games.

There was some confusion in the final seconds and the blame for that falls on NBC and a critical error that was made on the broadcast.

With the Hawks up by a point and 5.6 seconds left in the game, CJ McCollum stepped to the free throw line for two shots. After his first attempt missed, a timeout for the Knicks mysteriously popped up on NBC’s scorebug. That led to play-by-play announcer Noah Eagle saying that New York would take its timeout “almost guaranteed” if McCollum makes the second attempt. McCollum then missed his second shot, the Knicks didn’t take a timeout and Mikal Bridges missed a shot at the buzzer that would have won the game.

So why didn’t Mike Brown and the Knicks take a timeout out there? Because they didn’t have one. NBC’s Maria Taylor later explained the mishap during halftime of the Timberwolves-Nuggets game, saying it was a “data error” and that the Knicks didn’t have a timeout to call.

"We just want to say that the scoreboard showed a timeout that the Knicks did not have on the final play, but due to a data issue, the wrong timeout information was communicated,” Taylor said. “So, that's why you see a timeout on the (NBC) scorebug."

Maria Taylor: "We just want to say that the scoreboard showed a timeout that the Knicks did not have on the final play, but due to a data issue, the wrong timeout information was communicated. So, that's why you see a timeout on the (NBC) scorebug." 🏀📺 #NBA #NBC https://t.co/HYmVpAyBh9 pic.twitter.com/ScKbussPZg
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) April 21, 2026

Here’s a closer look at that mysterious timeout wrongly appearing in the scorebug right after McCollum missed his first free throw attempt.

Watch what happens here: after CJ’s miss, a timeout is incorrectly added to the graphic.

The producer/director in Noah Eagle + Jamal Crawford’s ear, or possibly the statistician who sits next to them during the broadcast, is likely telling them the Knicks DO have a timeout.

You… https://t.co/dkgqzDEBhw pic.twitter.com/50ShtAyv8I
— Rob Perez (@WorldWideWob) April 21, 2026

Why the Knicks didn’t have any timeouts left

The Knicks would have loved to have been able to call a timeout in that situation to set something up for a the final shot, but they were out of them after calling one with 2:43 left in the fourth and then calling their final one with 10.2 seconds remaining. NBA teams are allowed only two timeouts in the final three minutes.

Brown broke down why the Knicks used that timeout with 2:43 left, saying he didn’t like what he was seeing from his team, which had a 100-99 lead at the time.

“We had a couple of possessions that weren't fluid so I wanted to make sure we had something we wanted to get to or set something up offensively because we had whiffed on the last couple of possessions, they just didn’t look right or didn’t feel right,” Brown said.

Mike Brown was asked about using a timeout with 2:43 left after not using the "use it or lose it" timeout

"A couple of possessions weren't fluid so I wanted to make sure we had something we wanted to get to" pic.twitter.com/L163yC6EPt
— Knicks Videos (@sny_knicks) April 21, 2026

Many fans watching the broadcast couldn’t believe that Brown and the Knicks didn’t call a timeout in the final seconds but that wasn’t Brown’s fault. It was NBC’s, because the Knicks didn’t have one to call.

That’s a pretty rough mistake by NBC and is something that just can’t happen in the final seconds of a playoff game.

Game 3 of this series will be played on Thursday night in Atlanta.

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