In a very rare scenario, the New York Knicks are filing a protest with the NBA to get clarity on the recent happenings surrounding the team’s last game against the Rockets.
The Knicks are set to argue the team’s recent loss against the Houston Rockets after blatant game officiating which seemingly drew the results away from the team, subsequently leading to the Knicks loss by the Rockets.
Why are Knicks filling protest with NBA?
The move for a protest comes after the New York Knicks lost the game to the Rockets in the dying seconds of the game after a controversial call was given in favor of the Houston Rockets.
Benefitting from the untimely call, the Houston Rockets eventually hit two straight free-throws which completely sealed the game, leaving the Knicks with their hands on their heads, not knowing how to react. Not just the players, even the commentators had a directly contrasting opinion to the referees regarding the play.
With a loose ball in play and just over a second on the clock, Knicks guard Jalen Brunson rushed out to defend a hail-Mary shot that was going to be attempted by Rockets guard Aaron Holiday. Outstretching his arms, Brunson defended the shot to the best of his abilities but to his surprise, a foul was called on the player’s actions which was taken in with disbelief by the entire Knicks team.
Later on, the crew chief Ed Malloy admitted that there was no foul on seeing the replay. Pouring salt on the wounds was the NBA’s last two-minute report which brought to light that the Knicks were right to be frustrated as the calls were incorrect. With such factors in play, the Knicks decided to file a protest and the odds for the protest to succeed are highly against the team, with only six protests ever being considered.
If the protest is upheld, the New York Knicks will play the Houston Rockets before the post-season for an overtime period of five minutes to decide the ultimate winner of the match.
Knicks’ $10 million lawsuit against Raptors
The protest is not the only uphill battle that the New York Knicks faced this season. In December, the Knicks decided to take matters into their own hands and sued the Toronto Raptors in response to the Raptors calling the team’s allegations “baseless.”
The Knicks initially filed a suit against the team after they alleged that a former video coordinator of the team, who was hired by the Raptors planned a mission with his new team to steal video footage, scouting material and analytical reports to help and prosper the Raptors. The former employee and HC Darko Rajakovic was also named in the suit.
While the Raptors insisted that the NBA handle the suit in accordance with the league’s guidelines, the Knicks argued and filed a suit which implied that the NBA commissioner Adam Silver could not be trusted with information regarding the Raptors due to his close relationship with the Raptors’ minority owner Larry Tanenbaum who is also the league’s Chairman of the Board of Governors.
In the rare occurrence where a team in the league went against the Commissioner openly, the Knicks emphasized Silver’s incapability saying, “In his capacity as Chairman, Tanenbaum serves as Silver’s boss and exercises control over and heavily influences Silver’s continued employment and salary. Among other things, Tanenbaum has been described as ‘a close ally of Commissioner Adam Silver.’ Silver himself described Tanenbaum as ‘not just my boss as the chairman of the board of governors, but he’s very much a role model in my life.’”
With the Knicks fiercely battling against the Commissioner himself, it will be interesting to see how far the team’s filing for protest will go following their heartbreaking loss to the Rockets.
