NBA Officials Speak on Final Play of Pistons vs Knicks

For the second straight game, the Detroit Pistons had a game end in controversy. Following their last-second loss to the Orlando Magic, they were in another nail-biter against the New York Knicks Monday. 

In the final 30 seconds, the Pistons were attempting to stop another game-winner from happening. They managed to do so, as Ausar Thompson game up with a clutch steal in the closing seconds. However, chaos quickly ensued after. 

While making his way up to the court, Thompson was cut off by Donte DiVincenzo, who attempted to steal the ball. He crashed into the Pistons forward, knocking the ball loose in the process. Jalen Brunson was able to recover the ball and launch it to a streaking Josh Hart who eventually hit a game-winning layup for New York. 

In the pool report after the game, the officials were asked about this final play. The officials admitted that a foul should have been called on DiVincenzo for his contact with Thompson. Following this play, the Knicks went on to beat the Pistons by a final score of 113-111. 

As expected, the Pistons were far from happy about how things played out for them in this incident. During his postgame rant, head coach Monty Williams called it "one of the worst calls of the season." 

This was the second game where things went down to the wire for the Pistons and they came up short. Over the weekend, Paolo Banchero hit a miraculous shot with less than a second to go to seal a victory for the Orlando Magic. 

Unfortunately for the Pistons, they can't dwell on this for long. They have a quick turnaround as they're back in action on Tuesday against the Chicago Bulls.