Knicks head coach Mike Brown called out the referees over the drastic second-half free-throw disparity after their Game 3 NBA Finals loss Monday night at Madison Square Garden.
The Spurs cut the Knicks’ series lead to 2-1 with a 115-111 victory after attempting 24 free throws in the second half, while the Knicks had only eight free throws in the final two quarters.
“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,” Brown said after the game. “I don’t think I complain much about officials or the fairness when it comes to free-throw attempts. San Antonio is a great team — they’re a great team.
“It’s gonna lower our odds big time if we play Game 4, and in the second half, they get 24 free-throw attempts to our eight. And maybe we were fouling, but they foul too.”
Brown brought up one play where Karl-Anthony Towns got “whacked across the arm” when he shot the ball after getting a loose-ball rebound.
“There were opportunities to at least try to even the free throws out,” Brown added. “Now we didn’t play good. San Antonio played great.”
The Spurs made 25 of 32 free-throw attempts overall in Game 3 while the Knicks were 18-for-22.
Victor Wembanyama, who didn’t get called for a foul in the first half despite shoving Jalen Brunson in the back of the head, was 8-for-9 from the free-throw line and finished with 32 points.
