Escape From New York: Knicks Moving On After Controversy, Win Over Pistons
With the NBA world transfixed on what happened over the final 10 seconds of Monday's game at Madison Square Garden, the New York Knicks want to focus on the first 2,710.
The Knicks got back in the win column with a 113-111 squeaker over the Detroit Pistons, a game made infamous by the lack of foul call against Donte DiVincenzo that indirectly led to Josh Hart's game-winning double in an unexpected thriller. New York (35-23) has now won two of three since the All-Star break and doomed damned Detroit (8-49) to its third losing streak of at least six games this season.
A postgame pool report saw Monday's crew chief James Williams admit that DiVincenzo should've been charged a loose ball foul for knocking down Ausar Thompson in a late-game scrum, one that would've given Detroit the ball back with a one-point lead and less than 10 seconds to run off. That likely did little to appease Detroit head coach Monty Williams, who referred to the incident as the "absolute worst call of the season" in the aftermath.
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Several Knicks representatives were mum about the incident, expressing a desire for another look in the aftermath.
“I went for the ball,” DiVincenzo said, per SNY's Ian Begley. “I didn’t look at the play (yet). You turn the ball over, the ball’s in front of you and you go after the ball. I respect everyone’s opinion. I can’t speak on it until I look at the film.”
“I don’t want to comment on stuff like that because I haven’t watched the film,” Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau said in video from SNY. “I thought in general, it was very physical ... to me it’s not as tight one way and loose the other way. You can call it tight, you can call it loose. I’m looking for consistency. I thought they were. It was a hard-fought game. I thought they played well and I thought we battled.”
Once Thompson lost the ball from DiVincenzo's undeniable interference, it landed in the arms of Brunson, who bestowed his 12th and final assist of the night to Hart, who was fouled by Jalen Duren on the shot. Hart missed the ensuing free throw but got his own rebound and sank one last free throw to create the final margin.
Asked about what he saw before he got the ball, Brunson coyly replied "I don’t know what situation you’re talking about," per Steve Popper of Newsday.
The Knicks can perhaps quietly sympathize with the Pistons: the wounds of Feb. 12's controversial loss in Houston ... one where a foul was called against Brunson that led to free throws that cost the Knicks the game ... are still fresh. A league investigation into a New York-filed protest is ongoing.
In the grand scheme of things, however, the Knicks are more gravely concerned about what transpired before the call, or lack thereof.
The Knicks have faced the lowly Pistons twice this season and both games have proven to be a little too close for comfort. New York previously prevailed by six in November but Monday's game saw old friend Quentin Grimes nearly play the hero: the 2021 first-round pick, traded to Detroit in a deadline deal that obtained Bojan Bogdanovic and Alec Burks, scored each of his 14 points in the final period, the last two being a driving lay-up with 37 seconds to go just before the chaos erupted.
While the lacking effort can easily be excused by the continued medically-induced absences of OG Anunoby and Julius Randle, being taken to the brink by the woebegone Pistons certainly isn't exactly expected from a team with championship aspirations, no matter who's ailing.
DiVincenzo admitted as much in his postgame comments.
“Do I think we dodged a bullet overall? Yes," DiVincenzo said, per Fred Katz of The Athletic. "I have great respect for Monty and everybody over there. Like I said, we dodged a bullet with the win.”
To top it all off, the Knicks have little, if any, time to digest exactly what transpired on Monday: New York immediately returns to action on Tuesday as the New Orleans Pelicans are flying in for an interconference showdown at MSG (7:30 p.m. ET, MSG).
