NEW YORK — Knicks coach Mike Brown criticized the officiating in Game 3 of the NBA Finals after the San Antonio Spurs shot 24 free throws in the second half to New York’s eight.
“I never thought I’d see that in an NBA Finals game, and I saw it tonight,” Brown said.
The Spurs won 115-111 on Monday night to cut the Knicks’ lead in the series to 2-1. It was New York’s first loss in 46 days, ending a 13-game postseason winning streak.
Brown credited the Spurs for their performance and listed some things the Knicks did poorly. But he said the officiating made a difference in the game.
“San Antonio is a great team. They are 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. Maybe we were fouling. Maybe we were fouling. But they fouled, too.
“There were a lot of things that we didn’t do that we did in Game 1 and Game 2,” Brown added. “But to go 24 free-throw attempts in the second half, that’s 48 for the game, if you think about the way they called that second half, compared to eight. All the shots we took, we got fouled four times, roughly, for eight free-throw attempts.”
Mikal Bridges had to go to the bench early after picking up two quick fouls and Jalen Brunson had to do the same in the third quarter when he picked up his fourth. The Spurs shot 14 free throws in the third quarter to the Knicks’ three.
“There are a lot of things we can do better and we are going to have to do better, but the same breath, like I said, hopefully they will see some more fouls called against them, so it’s not 24-8,” Brown said. “This is a four-point ballgame. Four-point ballgame. One-possession ballgame going down the stretch. It’s tough to overcome.”
The Spurs finished 25 for 32 for the game, while the Knicks were 18 for 22. Told about Brown’s comments, Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns said the referees weren’t the problem.
“That didn’t cost us the game,” he said. “Turned the ball over. Didn’t execute. Didn’t do what got us 13 straight wins in a row. That’s how you lose a game.”
