Necessity for Knicks to Cease Complaining to Referees in Crucial Game 3 Against Pistons
It's high time to shut up, and start winning, fam!
That was the no-nonsense attitude from Josh Hart ahead of Game 3, who slammed himself and KAT for their in-game tantrums about the calls.
"It bloody well threw me off my game. I gotta learn to keep 'em under control, ya know, just concentrate on what I can control," Hart explained. "We can't control what they call. We can't control getting our first freebies with what, 17 seconds left in the half? We can't control those sorts of things. We just gotta deal with how we respond to 'em."
The controversial ref interferences were a key talking point from Game 2 against the Pistons, and rightly so. The calls were so skewed against the Knicks that Tom Thibodeau's squad didn't even attempt a free throw until 17 seconds remaining in the first half. The final score read 19 free-throw attempts for the Knicks compared to Detroit's 34, with the 15-shot difference being the biggest so far this season for the Knicks.
Not only that, but the NBA later determined that the refs made an incorrect call on a potential go-ahead play for the Knicks with 76 seconds left, as they ignored a hack on Hart by Jalen Duren.
So yeah, the Knicks had every right to be frustrated. But it's best ignored during the heat of competition.
Several Knicks – including Hart, Towns, Thibodeau, and Jalen Brunson – engaged in heated verbal protest about the refereeing in Game 2, a tactic that never works in changing a call and can divert focus from actually winning games.
Check out The Post's coverage of the Knicks in the 2025 NBA Playoffs
- Knicks pull off a thrilling Game 3 win over Pistons to reclaim series lead
- Bondy: Jalen Brunson, the perfect Hollywood villain in Game 3
- Knicks' Game 3 report card: Ball movement and stars spark victory
- Knicks fans Ben Stiller, Timothée Chalamet make the trek to Detroit for Game 3
Sports+ subscribers: Sign up for Inside the Knicks to get daily newsletter coverage and join Expert Take for insider texts about the series.
"We've been lacking focus when it comes to that," Jalen Brunson stressed. "We gotta let them do their job and we’ve gotta do ours."
Thibodeau let the referees have it in his post-Game 2 interview, saying, "If Cunningham is driving and there's marginal contact and he's getting to the line, then Jalen deserves the same treatment. It's that simple."
Who wins Game 3?
Pistons coach J.B. Bickerstaff hit back with the series free-throw disparity between Brunson (10.5 per game heading into Thursday) and Cunningham (8.5). Bickerstaff also misquoted Brunson's standing in the playoffs, stating that Brunson was top in free-throw attempts – he was actually second behind Giannis Antetokounmpo – while Cunningham was fourth (in reality, fourth would've been a good position for the Knicks in that case!).
No matter the whistles, the Knicks' offense struggled in Game 2. The ball wasn't moving, the shots weren't falling, and the attention to the referees grew larger.
Check out The Post's coverage of the Knicks in the 2025 NBA Playoffs
- Knicks pull off a thrilling Game 3 win over Pistons to reclaim series lead
- Bondy: Jalen Brunson, the perfect Hollywood villain in Game 3
- Knicks' Game 3 report card: Ball movement and stars spark victory
- Knicks fans Ben Stiller, Timothée Chalamet make the trek to Detroit for Game 3
Sports+ subscribers: Sign up for Inside the Knicks to get daily newsletter coverage and join Expert Take for insider texts about the series.
"I think we played too slow [in Game 2]. We needed to be more forceful," Hart said. "So I think cutting out the complaining and talking to refs – that's something I gotta work on."
Hart's relationship with the refs has been tumultuous at best. Last season, he led the Knicks in techs with seven, most of which resulted from yelling at officials. This season, Hart had six techs by early January before he made a commitment to build better relationships with the refs, even seeking out advice from a current official.
"He was like, 'You're an amazing competitor, but sometimes in the heat of the moment it feels like you're against us too,'" Hart noted. "So I think my complaining and getting techs hurts us. We're giving 'em free points or the ball or whatever, and that's something I gotta fix."
Are you with me on this? Sound off in the comments.
Hart and the Knicks found themselves back in the swing of things in the playoffs, and they acknowledged that it's a problem.
Footnotes:1 - Dynamic Officiating2 - Officiating in the 2021 NBA Playoffs: Stats, trends and challenges3 - Josh Hart's advice for those wanting to improve their game during the offseason4 - Mental Performance Coaching for Athletes5 - Coaching Tactics to Support Mental Health in Athletes
- The officiating in Game 2 of the Knicks' playoffs series was questionable, with the refs ignoring a potential go-ahead play for the Knicks and skewing calls significantly against them.
- Josh Hart acknowledged that the controversial ref interferences were throwing him off his game and stressed the need to control his responses to them.
- Hart and other Knicks players, such as Jalen Brunson and Tom Thibodeau, engaged in heated verbal protests about the refereeing in Game 2, but they agreed this tactic never works in changing a call and can divert focus from winning games.
- Despite the refereeing controversies, Hart and the Knicks understood the need to refocus and control what they could, as they looked to rebound in Game 3 of the series.
