The Detroit Pistons did not take comfort from the NBA’s admission that a foul should have been called on Josh Hart at the end of their Game 4 loss to the Knicks.
If anything, that made it worse.
“That makes it sting more, for sure,” Pistons forward Tobias Harris said Tuesday before Game 5 at Madison Square Garden. “But that’s in the past now. It’s heartbreaking, obviously, but that’s over with.”
In a Last Two Minute Report released Monday, the NBA said Hart made “more than marginal” body contact with Tim Hardaway Jr. as the Pistons guard attempted a 3-pointer in the waning seconds of the Knicks’ 94-93 win in Detroit on Sunday.
The foul went uncalled, and time expired as Hardaway’s desperation shot missed wide of the basket, putting Detroit in a 3-1 hole in the best-of-seven first-round playoff series.
The NBA labeled the sequence as an “incorrect non-call,” echoing the sentiment that crew chief David Guthrie shared shortly after Game 4.
“What’s the point of doing that if we can’t go back and shoot free throws?” Pistons guard Malik Beasley said Tuesday of the NBA’s admission.
The controversial non-call capped a hyper-physical Game 4 in which contact repeatedly went uncalled. That play was the only one in the last two minutes that the NBA said should have been officiated differently.
“We knew they got it wrong in the moment, so it’s really no difference,” Pistons star Cade Cunningham said Tuesday. “It doesn’t make us feel, like, validated hearing that or anything. But when the buzzer goes off, the game is over.”
The fateful possession began with a missed jumper by Cunningham with under 10 seconds on the game clock. Harris and Hart got tangled up as they fought for the rebound, and the loose ball ultimately rolled away from Mikal Bridges and into the hands of Hardaway.
The NBA said in its Last Two Minute Report that the officials’ decision to not call a loose ball foul on Harris in that frantic sequence was correct.
“To be honest, I thought that he pulled my arm in,” Harris said. “It can go both ways selectively, whatever somebody wants to believe. Then I see pictures saying that I’m out of bounds, it just made me really realize that the internet propaganda is just unbelievable.”
Harris added, “It’s a physical game. We talk all game long, guys go in for boards, pushing and shoving. Josh Hart is shoving. I’m shoving. We’re trying to get the basketball, right?”
On the final shot, Hardaway pump faked to get Hart in the air, then drew contact as he heaved the ball toward the basket.
“Did I make contact with him? Yeah, I made contact with him,” Hart said afterward. “Was it legal? I don’t know. We’ll let the two-minute report say that.”
The non-call drew the ire of Pistons head coach J.B. Bickerstaff, who ran onto the court to argue with the officials as soon as time expired.
Bickerstaff remained perplexed at his postgame press conference, saying, “There’s contact on his jump shot. The guy leaves his feet, he’s at Timmy’s mercy, and I repeat, there’s contact on his jump shot.”
Sunday’s finish further fueled a dramatic series in which Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau was similarly miffed after his team’s Game 2 loss. On that night, the Pistons attempted 34 free throws to the Knicks’ 19 — a discrepancy Thibodeau described as “huge.”
Despite their frustration with Game 4, the Pistons vowed they would not let it affect them in Game 5.
“We’ve been rebounding all year, so I think this has been the easiest one,” Beasley said. “Obviously, it’s the most-hurt one, but we know the value of the next game and how important this game is, so I think all of us have a next-game mentality.”
