Jalen Brunson, at the end of his availability with the media, revealed that he suffered a black eye.
“Probably a no-call,” Brunson said about how it was absorbed.
That sentiment was thematic. The Knicks were left angered by the referees during and after their 103-100 loss to the Thunder on Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden.
Whether justified or not, the Thunder have developed a reputation as a team that gets away with physicality on the defensive end and benefits from a friendly whistle on the offensive end. It often leaves opponents frustrated and results in constant complaints about officiating.
The Knicks became the latest culprit. Coach Mike Brown, unprompted, suggested that the refs were duped by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
“SGA, he’s a tough cover,” Brown said. “He does a great job of convincing the referees, probably better than anyone in the league, that he’s getting hit.”
Gilgeous-Alexander took seven free throws and made all of them. Brunson took six and made four.
In the first quarter, Brunson looked to have drawn a clear charge on Gilgeous-Alexander but it wasn’t called. It would have been Gilgeous-Alexander’s third foul.
Brown, normally cordial with officials, was uncharacteristically incensed. He took several steps onto the court and yelled at crew chief Brian Forte.
Then, on the next defensive possession for the Knicks, Brown lost it after Mohamed Diawara was called for a foul and began barking right at Forte, who promptly gave him a technical foul — Brown’s first of the season. He had to be held back by Rick Brunson.
“You guys saw the play,” Brown said. “SGA had two fouls and Jalen was there, and he ran him over. Just like the call that they made on OG [Anunoby, later in the game]. I don’t understand why that was a no-call. But that should’ve been his third, the bucket shouldn’t have counted and we should’ve gone the other way with the basketball.
“So to see that, knowing that Jalen is standing there and he’s putting his body on the line, and our guys are fighting their asses off to try to win the ballgame, it didn’t sit well with me, obviously.”
Later in the fourth quarter, Karl-Anthony Towns was not happy with the call for his fifth foul, which was assessed after a Thunder challenge. Towns fouled out a few minutes later.
“It’s obviously frustrating,” Towns said. “You want to win the game and you want to be out there with your teammates. It’s unfortunate. It’s unfortunate that it was called.”