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The New York Knicks dropped to 6-6 on the season and 0-2 in the Emirates NBA Cup following a 106-104 loss to the Indiana Pacers at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on Friday. Knicks head coach Mike Brown cut a frustrated figure on the night, notably earning a technical foul with 1:05 left in the second quarter.
Brown was irate after OG Anunoby didn’t get a foul call on a layup attempt, and he went off on official Intae Hwang. That unsurprisingly led to a technical, and the 56-year-old was asked in his postgame press conference about his frustrations in that moment.
“I did get a T,” Brown said, via Yahoo. “But the reality of it is they were playing harder than us. It was out of frustration. Some of it because we just had a game that we played, and you have a guy like Jalen [Brunson] who’s an All-Star and an MVP candidate; he goes 0-0 from the free-throw line. And at the end of the first half [here], I think it was maybe 20 to three or something like that, and that in itself is frustrating.
“To know that we’re getting beat that bad from the free-throw line, and they’re missing some calls,” Brown continued. “Now, are we fouling? Yes, and we got to do a better job doing our work earlier. But in the same breath, the discrepancy shouldn’t be that bad two games in a row. Hopefully not three games in a row coming up.
“And that’s what I’m taking a look at,” Brown added. “That there are some fouls that they’re calling with our body because guys are just putting their head down and running into you and snapping their head back, but we’re not getting those same calls, and that is the frustrating part.”
Now, the Pacers might have some complaints about the officials as well, but we’ll get to that in a bit. They had shot 20 free throws at halftime here compared to the Knicks’ five. Brown going at Hwang might have made a difference in the second half, as the hosts only shot five free throws after the break compared to eight for the visitors.
The Pacers still finished the night with a 25-13 advantage, and Pascal Siakam nearly shot as many free throws (12) as the Knicks did as a team. This also happened a couple of nights after James Harden shot as many free throws as the Knicks (11) in the Cleveland Cavaliers‘115-107 win at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday.
The Cavaliers shot 25 free throws that night, and Brown can’t understand why his team isn’t getting the same calls. He mentioned that Jalen Brunson didn’t attempt any free throws against the Cavaliers, and it was the first time that had happened in a game since February 2026.
Brown hopes the Knicks don’t suffer this fate three games in a row. They’ll take on the Toronto Raptors next at Scotiabank Arena on Sunday at 6 p.m. ET.
Getting back to this game, you wouldn’t blame the Pacers for feeling aggrieved by the officiating in the final minute. Brunson appeared to get away with a travel when the Knicks trailed 106-102 in the final 20 seconds. He eventually found Mikal Bridges, who cut the lead to two points.
Then, as the Pacers inbounded the ball on the next play, Bridges appeared to foul Andrew Nembhard, but there was no whistle, and Anunoby scooped it up. The Knicks suddenly had a chance to send the game to overtime or even win it in regulation, but Karl-Anthony Towns missed a game-tying shot, and that was that.
This defeat makes it pretty difficult for the Knicks, the cup holders, to advance to the knockout stage from East Group B. They’re at the bottom of the group, and it’s looking unlikely that they’ll retain the cup.
https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/mike-brown-calls-officials-knicks-132425026.html
