Jalen Brunson Addresses Controversial Decision, Ending to Knicks-Rockets on 'Roomates'

One thing that no one can protest is the fact that Jalen Brunson has become one of the faces of New York basketball.

The New York Knicks point guard is fresh off his first All-Star appearance and a career-best season has put him at the fringes of the MVP conversation. In the eyes of Knicks fans, Brunson can do no wrong ... well, almost.

Some observers have questioned Brunson's decision to try and block an Aaron Holiday shot at the end of the Knicks' recent visit to Toyota Center to face the Houston Rockets on Feb. 12. His defense led to a controversial foul call that led to free throws from Holiday which provided the winning difference in a 105-103 Houston victory. The Knicks have since filed a protest with the potential endgame of landing an overtime period after the night's officiating crew chief, Ed Malloy, ruled that no foul should've been called.

Brunson addressed the controversy on his "Roommates" podcast hosted alongside fellow Knick and Villanova alum Josh Hart. The point guard was reduced to the stance of "no comment" to avoid the financial wrath of the NBA (with Hart encouraging publisher Playmaker to pay the duo's fines for criticizing league officiating) but addressed the defense that led to the incident in the first place.

"Everyone's saying like 'oh, why'd you jump, why'd you foul, why'd you contest him?'" Brunson said. "If I don't contest, and he makes it, everyone's looking like 'what are you doing?'"

Behind 27 points from Brunson, the Knicks were able to erase a 16-point deficit in Houston that night. Seconds before the erroneous foul charge, Brunson had tied the game on a floater with just over eight ticks remaining. The loss was the penultimate addition to a season-worst four-game losing streak that ended on Thursday when the Knicks took down the Philadelphia 76ers in each side's return from the All-Star break.

Free from NBA fines, "Roommates" co-host and entrepreneur Matt Hillman had a little more leeway to talk about the call, which could potentially end up costing the Knicks (34-22) homecourt advantage in a first-round playoff series. As it stands, New York holds the fourth seed in the East, a game behind Milwaukee for third and 1.5 games ahead of fifth-place Philadelphia.

Ref That! Knicks-Rockets Official Admits Bad Call Against Brunson

"I'm not saying whether or not it was a foul," Hillman said. "It's just generally not a call you would expect to be made because there's so much on the line. So when it is (called), it's like ugh."

Time will tell if the Knicks are able to squeeze an extra five minutes of the Association for their trouble. In the meantime, New York faces the Boston Celtics on Saturday night at Madison Square Garden (8:30 p.m. ET, ABC).