NBA Dunks on Knicks, Barrett Slam in Monday's Last Two-Minute Report
Thanks to Trent Tucker, New York Knicks fans come to expect miracles on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The NBA, however, backed the denial of a new on-court wonder in one of its latest Last Two Minute Reports.
An L2M report concerning the Knicks' Monday late afternoon showdown against the Toronto Raptors backed the lack of a foul call on RJ Barrett's end-to-end dunk that tied the game with under a second remaining in regulation. Barrett's highlight victimized Toronto's Scottie Barnes, whose missed free throw ironically set the stage for the slam that sent Madison Square Garden into hysterics.
While jubilant at the moment, it was a highlight made bittersweet by the fact that the Raptors took over the extra period forced by Barrett's slam: for the second time in under a month, Toronto took a divisional showdown from the Knicks at MSG, prevailing in a 123-121 final. Some felt that the contact Barnes on Barrett when he put in his dunk should've given the slammer an and-one opportunity.
The NBA didn't feel the same way. The L2M report acknowledged that contact was made but it wasn't enough for the whistle to blow.
"Barnes makes contact with Barrett's upper off-arm during his dunk shot," the report declares. "(But) that does not affect the speed, quickness, balance, and/or rhythm of (Barrett's) shot."
Such an explanation likely does nothing to soothe the concerns of Knicks fans who were looking for the team's fourth consecutive victory. The ruling, however, won't be much of a surprise to Barrett, who was not expecting mercy from officials so late in the game.
"At that point in time, the refs aren’t going to call a foul,” Barrett said of the play, per Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News. “I just got to go up strong.”
Barrett has a 76 percent rate at the foul line this season and sank 10-of-11 on Monday en route to a team-best 32 points. Failing to take advantage of free throw opportunities has haunted the Knicks at several points this season: going 4-of-6 over the final 90 seconds, for example, allowed Toronto to inch back into the ball game and earn its second victory over the Knicks.
The losing home team locker room was understandably both on edge and walking on eggshells in the immediate aftermath. Head coach Tom Thibodeau wanted a look at the dunk's replay before he made any concrete rulings. But he made his thoughts quite clear without directly mentioning the equalizer.
“It was hard to tell what a foul was," Thibodeau said, per the New York Post. The Knicks' boss sounded further annoyed about a foul charged to Jalen Brunson in overtime, one also involving Barnes. The call sent Fred VanVleet to the line for two after Thibodeau called for a futile challenge, which upheld the call despite Barnes appearing to push Brunson into Toronto's leading scorer.
Those shots put Toronto up by three before O.G. Anunoby's triple doubled that advantage. The Knicks chipped away to the point where they had an opportunity to win at the end but Brunson's would-be winner from deep fell short at the buzzer.
VanVleet's shots were part of a 41-35 advantage at the foul line, leading Thibodeau to call for consistency.
"I don’t really care if a game’s called tight or if it’s called loose. I just want consistency,” Thibodeau declared. “It was physical, it was. There was a lot going on ... I want to watch to make sure I saw what I thought I saw.”
The Knicks (25-20) return to action on Wednesday night against the Washington Wizards (7:30 p.m. ET, MSG).
Geoff Magliocchetti is on Twitter @GeoffJMags
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