The Knicks fought to the buzzer against the Juggernaut Nets. And after the buzzer.
All-Star Julius Randle had to be repeatedly held to go after referee Scott Foster following the Knicks’ 117-112 loss to the Nets on Monday at Barclays Center.
Randle, who had been called in for a last-minute trip violation, had calmed down 40 minutes after the game.
“It was a conversation – I’d better not comment on the situation,” Randle said. “There was a lot of frustration behind both sides. I’ll let it be in the past and move on to the next game. ”
Asked about his post-buzzer fire reaction, Randle said: “I was frustrated. We fought so hard to come back and win the game. I was just frustrated. ”
It was a game that the Knicks watched with 18 points in the first half and took it to a final possession after Tom Thibodeau won a challenge to a controversial theft by Alec Burks.
But Coach Knicks came out of the challenge in the last play in which Randle was called to travel – a rare crime seen in old school.
Knicks senior vice president William Wesley had to fight Randle on the field, his star being so miffed, but probably not in time to prevent the NBA from issuing a penalty for display.
Randle hit Jeff Green of the Nets as he headed for the referee, but at least Wesley probably saved an old Brooklyn street fight in an arena on Flatbush Avenue. Knicks President Leon Rose was on the field trying to make peace.
After Thibodeau won the challenge with seven seconds left, the Knicks controlled the top after a jump ball and quickly called for a timeout.
Randle received the ball on the right wing beyond the 3-point line. He went up for the potential equalizer and Kyrie Irving got a hand on the ball. Randle came down without shooting and threw the ball immediately to dribble.
But it was too late. Foster called the trip when Randle seemed to land with possession. He finished with 33 points, 12 rebounds and six assists.
Foster told a pool reporter that he stayed on his call that Irving touched the ball but did not lower it, and Randle came down with possession. This is the rule.
“It’s an exciting game, it calmed down immediately,” Thibodeau said. “It was a hard game for both teams. Sometimes it goes with your whistles, other times it doesn’t. I thought Julius played a great game. He played on 5, changed. It didn’t go our way in the end. “
Irving said he was trying to foul Randle before he climbed.
“I was going to make mistakes early on, but I saw him line up for a jump shot,” Irving said. “I felt I could get my hands on her. Scott called the trip. I thought Julius made a good play after putting it down. I was only going to do it after that to take him to the free throw line. That’s how it went. ”
Maybe Randle was educated about how to play the game now.
“I think it’s best to get over it and not comment on what I think and what the official was thinking,” Randle said.
In the previous game, the referees reversed the call for a Burks steal, which was initially decided as a foul on RJ Barrett after they doubled Nets’ Joe Harris in the backfield, chasing three.
Thibodeau would have challenged Randle, he said, if he had one more challenge.
“That’s what they said they saw, I didn’t see it that way,” said Thibodeau, whose club fell to 20-20 and face the Sixers on Tuesday. “Like the other piece in the corner, I didn’t see it that way.”
The Nets gained an 18-point lead in the first half, but the Knicks did not back down or disappear and were five points behind for much of the final four minutes.
And then Randle was ready for more.
– Additional reporting by Brian Lewis