NBA makes decision on Knicks protest of loss to Rockets

The NBA has denied the Knicks‘ protest of their Feb. 12 loss to the Rockets, the league announced Wednesday in a news release.

The Knicks lost the game 105-103 after Knicks guard Jalen Brunson was called for a foul on Rockets guard Aaron Holiday as Holiday launched a desperation three-pointer in the game’s final second. Holiday made two game-winning free throws with 0.3 seconds left on the clock (video link).

Both the NBA’s L2M (last two minutes) report and crew chief Ed Malloy later acknowledged that the foul call was incorrect. Had the call not been made, the game would have gone to overtime.

However, as expected, the Knicks’ protest was unsuccessful. Only six protests in league history have been upheld and it hasn’t happened since 2007.

“Under the standard for NBA game protests, New York was required to demonstrate that there was a misapplication of the official playing rules, as opposed to an error in judgment by game officials,” the league said in its statement Wednesday. “Because the foul call at issue reflected an error in judgment, New York did not demonstrate a misapplication of the playing rules, and the extraordinary remedy of upholding a game protest was not warranted.”

Had the protest been upheld, the two teams would have resumed the game where it left off and played an overtime period. Instead, the game’s result will stand.

The Knicks benefited from a missed foul call on Monday that helped them secure a tight win over the Pistons. Detroit head coach Monty Williams referred to it as “the worst call of the season” in his postgame comments.