Mike Brown does not normally pick fights with referees. He picked one Monday night after the New York Knicks dropped Game 3 of the NBA Finals 115-111 to the San Antonio Spurs at Madison Square Garden.
The Knicks head coach spent the opening five minutes of his postgame press conference fixated on one number: the free throw disparity. The Spurs attempted 24 second half free throws. The Knicks attempted eight.
“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,” Brown said. “I don’t think I complain much about officials, or the fairness when it comes to free throw attempts. San Antonio is a great team. It’s going to lower our odds big time if we play Game 4 and in the second half, they get 24 free throw attempts to our eight.”
Brown has a case. Victor Wembanyama got away with what looked like a flagrant on Jalen Brunson in the first quarter, the kind of play that draws an automatic ejection in most regular season games. The Spurs have shot more free throws than the Knicks in all three games of this series.
He also has some self-inflicted wounds. The Knicks turned the ball over 13 times. Brown himself left Brunson on the bench for over seven minutes during a critical stretch that bridged the third and fourth quarters, a decision that was widely panned by fans and analysts. By the time Brunson reentered, the Spurs had built the lead they would never give back.
This is a pressure play as much as anything else. Brown is putting it on tape, on the record, and into the league office’s inbox before Game 4 on Wednesday. He wants the whistles to come back the Knicks’ way. The series is now 2-1 New York, and there is no margin to keep losing the free throw battle by 16 in a half.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
