New York Knicks star Jalen Brunson couldn’t believe it. His coach, Tom Thibodeau, was livid.
Brunson’s costly foul — which the referees admitted to be wrong — with 0.3 seconds left allowed the Houston Rockets to escape with a 105-103 win on Monday, February 3, at Toyota Center.
This is an awful foul call from the refs, what a terrible call. Knicks got hosed on this one. You can’t make this foul call to decide the game.
With a sober mood, Brunson and Thibodeau sarcastically answered questions about it during their postgame interviews.
“Great call,” Brunson said via NBA.com. “Next question.”
Asked if he disagreed with the call, Thibodeau dodged the question.
“You look at it,” he simply said.
Tom Thibodeau was asked if he disagreed with the foul call that was made at the end of the game:
“You look at it.”
Asked again what he thought about the officiating, Thibodeau mirrored Brunons’ reply: “It was great, great!”
Tom Thibodeau was asked what he thought about the officiating tonight:
“It was great. Great.”
When pressed more, Thibodeau finally relented and gave his take on the game’s officiating which saw huge disparity in free throws — the Rockets went 23 of 33 while the Knicks sank only 7 of 12.
“I don’t really care how tight the game is called,” Thibodeau said. “You can call it tight or you can call it loose, I just would like the consistency to be the same. They have a job. They have to control and manage the game.”
“I don’t really care how tight the game is called. You can call it tight or you can call it loose, I just would like the consistency to be the same. They have a job. They have to control and manage the game.”
– Tom Thibodeau on the officials from tonight’s game
Without a coach’s challenge, Thibodeau and the Knicks did not have the chance to overturn the call. Thibodeau already lost his challenge on a blocking foul called on Taj Gibson in the first half.
Crew Chief Admits It Was the ‘Wrong Call’
Crew Chief Ed Malloy admitted referee Jacyn Goble’s call was a mistake. But they could not overturn it without a coach’s challenge. They can only review if the whistle was blown before the buzzer.
“In live action, it was felt that the lower body contact was illegal,” Malloy said in the NBA pool report. “After seeing it during [the] postgame review, the offensive player was able to return to a normal playing position on the floor. The contact which occurred after the release of the ball therefore is incidental and marginal to the shot attempt and should not have been called.”
Goble was the same referee who was involved in the controversial Los Angeles Lakers-Boston Celtics game last season. The eight-year veteran referee missed a clear foul that would’ve sent LeBron James to the line to win the game for the Lakers, which the NBA admitted should have been called.
Jacyn Goble was the official who made the game-ending foul call of Jalen Brunson tonight.
He is the same baseline official who missed this blatant foul on LeBron in Boston last season.
This time, Goble blew his whistle when he shouldn’t have.
Fans, Journalists Up in Arms Over Costly Call
It was not only the Knicks who were left fuming mad about the controversial ending of the Knicks-Rockets game.
Fans and even the media were up in arms against Goble’s blunder which cost the Knicks their third straight loss.
Multi-awarded actor and filmmaker Ben Stiller, a die-hard Knicks fan, called out the NBA after the game.
@NBA awful call to end the Knicks Houston game.
Fox Sports’ NBA reporter Yaron Weitzman described it as the “worst call of the year.”
This is a stacked category this season, but the officials in this Rockets-Knicks game might have just made the worst call of the year
ESPN’s Tim Bontemps pushed it further.
Knicks-Houston
Former NBA champion and ESPN analyst Kendrick Perkins said it was a “[expletive] call.”
The officials just messed up a good ass basketball game. That was a BS call on Brunson at the end of the Knicks and Rockets game.
MMA reporter and noted Knicks fan Ariel Helwani also chimed in, describing it as “one of the worst calls ever.”
Nah this is really one of the worst calls ever. After such a valiant comeback, too. Ridiculous.
More fans and journalists gave their take.
I just don’t see how this could be a foul call to decide the game. I mean, was there some contact after release on the non shooting arm? Sheesh
The Knicks get ROBBED at the buzzer as Jalen Brunson was called for a foul on this late game contest 🤦♂️
Probably was a foul on Brunson if it was more than 1 minute to go in game but you can’t call that trash. In that moment.
Integrity man.
How are you supposed to teach kids to contest if you’re going to call a foul on Jalen Brunson for this?
This was an egregious foul call on Jalen Brunson to decide the game. Just preposterous officiating.
Associated Press’ Brian Mahoney was the only one who agreed with Gobley’s call which he tweeted before the Malloy admitted it was wrong.
“It’s one of those were as much as you hate to see a foul called there, Brunson fouled him,” Mahoney wrote on X, formerly Twitter, quoting The Athletic’s Fred Katz comment on the controversial call.
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Knicks React to Controversial Last-Minute Call in Loss to Rockets