The Spurs came out all guns blazing in Game 3 of the NBA Finals and punched the Knicks in their mouth from the first quarter itself. Eventually, the Spurs stole the Knicks’ chance to potentially sweep this series 4-0 at home as they won the game 115-111 down the stretch.
This loss ended the Knicks’ noteworthy 13-game playoff winning streak, just two wins short of matching the NBA record set by the Warriors in 2017 (15 straight wins). Following the game, the Knicks’ head coach, Mike Brown, spoke to the media and spent a significant portion of his time highlighting how the officiating he witnessed tonight was something he never thought he would see at an NBA Finals game.
Subsequently, Karl-Anthony Towns and Josh Hart addressed the media together at the postgame press conference. Towns addressed Brown’s remarks but with a tone of disagreement, saying it was not what cost the Knicks their 13-game playoff win streak.
“Nah, that ain’t what cost us the game. Turning the ball over didn’t do what got us 13 wins in a row. That’s how you lose a game. We didn’t do what we did for the 13, we decided to play differently, and it ain’t gonna work when you’re throwing the ball away. It’s a clear indication of how you’re going to lose the game, especially in the playoffs,” said Towns.
The Knicks had 13 turnovers tonight, one more than Game 2, and five of these turnovers came from Jalen Brunson. So Towns is indirectly asking Brunson to be better with the ball as well.
Towns ended the game with 11 points, eight rebounds, one assist, three steals, and two blocks to stuff the box score while shooting 40% from the floor (4-10).
For a player who has been consistently averaging almost 17 points per game in these playoffs (16.9), this six-point dip in his scoring can also be seen as a reason for the loss tonight.
But instead of taking accountability for his lack of aggression tonight on offense, Towns pointed the blame at the rest of the team. This does not reflect well on Towns in my opinion.
What Mike Brown Said About Officiating In Knicks’ Game 3
Following the stunning loss at Madison Square Garden to the Spurs, the Knicks’ head coach addressed officiating directly in his opening remarks of the postgame press conference.
“First of all, I want to make sure I get something clear. Coach Mitch Johnson and the Spurs won the game tonight. They came and took the game,” said Brown.
“But I will say this. I never thought I’d be in the NBA finals and see a team get 24 free throw attempts in the second half to another team’s eight. And I don’t think I complain much about officials or the fairness when it comes to the free-throw attempts. San Antonio is a great team. They’re a great team. OK?”
“It’s going to lower our odds big time, big time, if we play Game 4, and in the second half, they get 24 free throw attempts to our eight. And maybe we were fouling. Maybe we were fouling. But they fouled too. KAT gets the ball off a loose ball rebound, and he shoots it, and he gets whacked across the arm, and they hit the ball, and it goes out of bounds on the baseline. There’s no foul.”
“There were opportunities for fouls to be called, at least, to try to even the free throws out. Now we didn’t play good San Antonio played great. We could have played better. There were a lot of things that we didn’t do that we did in game one and game two.”
“But to go 24 free throw attempts in the second half, that’s 48 for the game if you think about it the way that they called that second half, compared to eight, all the shots we took, we got fouled four times, roughly, for eight free throw attempts. Again, I don’t complain much. I never thought I’d see that in an NBA Finals game. And I saw it tonight.”
The Spurs had 32 free throws attempted in the game, 24 of them came in the second half alone, where the Knicks were entering the free-throw penalty zone early on in each quarter as a team, which allowed the Spurs to get 20 points from the free-throw line alone in their 58-point second half.
In comparison, the Knicks had 22 attempts from the free-throw line; only eight of those came in the second half. Therefore, in a game that ended with a difference of four points, these small aspects could have helped the Knicks regain the lost ground and potentially take this win.
Unfortunately for them, this ensures that the Spurs will now have at least a Game 5 at home in San Antonio. Game 4 is scheduled for Wednesday night, June 10. They will hope not to repeat the same mistakes as they made tonight to potentially secure a 3-1 lead in this series.
Game 4 is a must-win for the Knicks, even though no team in NBA history has successfully come back from where the Spurs are attempting to come back in this series (losing the first two games at home).
If the Spurs win Game 4, they head home to San Antonio with the momentum and crowd in their favor, which will be a major hole for the Knicks to climb out of. It will be interesting to see how the Knicks bounce back from this loss in Game 4.
