The New York Knicks lost their first game in 47 days, ending their 13-game winning streak in the playoffs. While the Knicks played a flawed game, head coach Mike Brown wasn't happy with the officiating in the loss to the San Antonio Spurs.

The Knicks entered the third quarter with a seven-point lead. But after the next 12 minutes, they trailed by one point. San Antonio eventually won the game 115-111. During the post-game media conference, Brown pointed out the free throw discrepancy between both teams, especially in the second half.

"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," he told reporters. "Now I don't think I complain much about officials or the fairness when it comes to the free-throw attempts."

San Antonio put a lot of pressure on the Knicks' defense in the second half. But according to Brown, the officials didn't call enough fouls against the Spurs.

"San Antonio is a great team. They're a great team. It's going to lower our odds big time...And maybe we were fouling. Maybe we were fouling, but they fouled too," Brown added.

Brown has every right to be upset with the referees. During a play in the first half, Victor Wembanyama shoved Jalen Brunson in the head. It could have qualified for a flagrant 1, but no foul was called. Josh Hart was slapped with a technical for pushing Luke Kornet after the latter almost shoved Hart to the court.

However, the Knicks made bigger mistakes to deserve this loss. The Knicks simply had more holes in their game. More than the mistakes that the Knicks committed, the Spurs played a better game.

They played through each other and shared the ball better than the Knicks. All of their starters scored in double digits, including Victor Wembanyama, who had a very resilient 32-point game.

What Really Factored in the Knicks’ Game 3 Loss?

The offensive efficiency gap between the Knicks and the Spurs wasn’t that big. In fact, the Knicks attempted 88 shots in Game 3, four more than the Spurs.

They shot 45% from the field, just a percent below San Antonio. However, the Knicks failed to materialize the result through their most efficient players from the night. 

Jalen Brunson seemed to take over 28% of the Knicks’ total shots without scoring in proportion. He took 25 shots to score 32 points.

As Stephen A. Smith pointed out, Brunson was playing to win the MVP award. OG Anunoby was 6-for-6 from the field in the first half. Despite that, he attempted only seven shots in the second half. 

The Knicks simply didn’t play through their hot hands, and most of the shots came from Brunson, who took 15 shots in the same period.

Moreover, the Knicks were also careless with the ball. Compared to the Spurs’ eight, they committed 13 turnovers. The Spurs conceded just 7 points from their turnovers, compared to New York’s 21 points. 

What do you think was the single biggest reason for the Knicks' loss? Let us know in the comments.

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Written by

Nandjee Ranjan

Edited by

Shubhi Rathore