Charles Barkley has shared an interesting take on what happened after the Detroit Pistons versus New York Knicks game on Sunday afternoon.
The Pistons were down 94-93 when Tim Hardaway Jr attempted a three-point shot to win the game at the final buzzer. He airballed the effort, and the Knicks won.
However, Josh Hart clearly fouled Hardaway Jr in the shooting action, so he should’ve had three free throws, needing to make two for the victory.
After the game, the NBA released a statement admitting that the referees had made a mistake, which Barkley had plenty to say about.
Many were annoyed with the referees for missing an obvious, and potentially series-defining, call late in the Pistons-Knicks game.
But Barkley took exception to the NBA’s response to the situation, expressing that they threw the refs “under the bus.”
He also made the valid point that we all knew it was an error anyway, so the statement only added unnecessary fuel to the fire.
Barkley explained: “Let me tell you something, man. The NBA, as much as I love it and it’s given me a great life, that’s the stupidest thing ever. How does that actually help the Pistons? Coming out later, all you’re doing is throwing referees under the bus.
“Yeah, we know it was a foul. They missed the call. But to put that [statement] out and be like, ‘We want to be transparent,’ that doesn’t help the Pistons.”
The Knicks led the series 2-1 before Game 4 in Detroit on Sunday, so it was still in the balance. That’s no longer the case because of one egregious call.
If the Pistons had levelled the series at 2-2, the Knicks would then be under immense pressure in Game 5 at Madison Square Garden to regain the lead.
Instead, Tom Thibodeau’s team now has a healthy advantage and only needs to win one of the three remaining games.
Of course, the refs make mistakes throughout every now, but this latest one has probably settled the series between two evenly-matched teams.
