Patience is a virtue and the New York Knicks needed plenty of it to get through Game 3 of their Eastern Conference quarterfinal series with the Detroit Pistons.
Detroiters gathered at Little Caesars Arena for the first Pistons playoff game in six years certainly got their money's worth in terms of time, as the Knicks needed just under three hours to secure a 118-116 win. A game of hours, ironically enough, came down to literal deciseconds.
"It doesn't seem right to me," Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau said of the conclusion, per Chris Herring of ESPN. "That should never happen, ever, in a playoff game."
After surviving controversy of their own through a legal trip over the backcourt line, the Knicks were forced to completely clean the clock to earn their victory: up 117-113 in the waning moments, New York let up a three-pointer from Tobias Harris but that seemed to only postpone the seemingly inevitable. Jalen Brunson was fouled with 0.5 seconds remaining and the bonus situation sent him to the foul line for two free throws.
Brunson sank the first and then planned to miss the second intentionally so the clock would run out in the ensuing scrum for the rebound. The Knicks captain went on to fail the task successfully, as his productive misfire appeared to have the desired effect. However, the clock had erroneously started when Brunson's freebie hit the rim rather than anyone's hand.
The clock malfunction sent officials to the monitor both teams to their respective benches, where Detroit, out of timeouts before Brunson's charity tosses, prepared a play in the event of further life support. Such a privilege was indeed granted: by rule, officials awarded the Pistons the ball on the sideline on the far end with the full 0.5 seconds remaining.
That afforded Detroit one last chance to win or extend the game — and essentially punished the Knicks for employing an effective, time-honored strategy common in narrow basketball games. But further controversy was averted and the Knicks finally exhaled after Jalen Duren's inbounds pass failed to reach Cade Cunningham. After a timeout, the Knicks were finally able to run out the fragments of a second and celebrate the win.
Having denied Detroit a de facto Trent Tucker moment, the Knicks were able to laugh off the clock calamity in the aftermath.
"I ain't going to lie to you: shoutout to the [Detroit scorer's] table man. Giving your team another chance like that is fire!" an amused Karl-Anthony Towns said in his postgame interview with Mike Breen and Alan Hahn of MSG Network. "I've got to give them a lot of respect for that. I ain't never seen that in 10 years of basketball."
Towns teammate Josh Hart was not as charitable, labeling the incident "example A of home court advantage" in video from SNY. Unfortunately for Hart and Towns, neither theory holds water: NBA games have employed neutral, third-party clock operators since 2002, which more or less eliminated the idea of a friendly timer for the home team.
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