The Knicks held to beat the Nets on Friday night at MSG in what some will describe as a “strange” game.
Friday’s game had the usual runs, impact moments, etc., but there were some decisions and calls that had many attending the contest and watching from home scratching their heads, probably none more so than the double technique call. AND Anunoby and Dorian Finney-Smith.
With nine minutes to go in the fourth quarter and the Knicks up 104-93, Anunoby tried to get through a Finney-Smith screen. The Nets center took offense to the collision and pushed Anunoby to the ground.
The Knicks forward stood up and approached Finney-Smith but the two were separated.
What followed was a long discussion and a confusing decision by the ref. Anunoby was called for a foul on the play, but both players were given technicals for the offside stuff when it looked like Finney-Smith was the one who caused it.
“Yeah, I didn’t know what I did,” Anunoby said of the play after the game.
It was not the last time that Anunoby was the focus of a referee’s decision. Later in the fourth when he had five fouls already, Anunoby apparently tipped an inbounds pass that Finney-Smith knocked out of bounds.
Networks coach Jordi Fernandez challenged the play, arguing that Anunoby fouled his player before the pass, and the referees agreed when they saw the Knicks forward pull Finney-Smith’s jersey before the pass.
That gave Anunoby his sixth foul, and he had to sit out the final minutes of the game.
“It was pretty frustrating,” Anunoby said of getting fouled. “But we won.”
Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau was a little more animated when asked about the fouls and specifically the double technicals in this game.
“Don’t make me go. We’ve been a down team for a long time. I see what’s going on and I don’t like it,” he said. “It can’t be the physicality that’s on display Jalen [Brunson] when he brings the ball up the floor with the catch, the grip, all those things.
I don’t care what they call it. They can call it tight, they can call it loose, but it has to be the same for both teams.”
This is not the first time Thibodeau has criticized the officials. He specifically brought up how Brunson has been officiated differently because of his guard’s style of play before as well, but the Knicks coach felt the inconsistency Friday was especially stark.
For what it’s worth, the Nets had 22 fouls while the Knicks had 21.
