The New York Knicks fought to battle back against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday. Unfortunately for the Knicks, it came down to the final moments, and they suffered a tough 103-100 loss to the defending champions. New York couldn't slow down the reigning league MVP, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who led OKC with 26 points and eight assists.
SGA also led the Thunder from the free-throw line and made all of his seven attempts. This led to a spark for OKC to shoot 84.0% of their 25 attempts. After the contest, Knicks head coach Mike Brown had a blunt message about Gilgeous-Alexander's tendency to create contact and score from the charity stripe.
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“SGA, he's a tough cover. He does a great job of convincing the referees — probably better than anybody in the league — that he's getting hit,” Brown said. “Them shooting 84% from the free throw line, compared to our 73%, was a factor.”
Earlier in the game, Brown couldn't hold himself from reacting to a missed offensive foul call on SGA. During the first quarter, the Thunder star already had two fouls, and Knicks star Jalen Brunson tried to get him to commit his third to get him in trouble. However, the officials called it a blocking foul on Brunson.
It happened right in front of the Knicks' bench, and the coach's animated reaction towards the referees earned him his first technical foul of the season.
Mike Brown Comments on His Technical Foul
Brown insisted that SGA should have been called for his third foul during his time in front of the media. The head coach argued that the officials should be consistent in calling certain plays. Although some of the calls did not go their way, he had a message to the Knicks to remain calm and overcome the calls they think should've gone the other way.
"One of the things that I wanted to get across to the guys is, we're good enough to win despite whatever the officials are calling out on the floor. We need to have that mentality," Brown said.
The Knicks have a shot at revenge against the Thunder. On March 29, they will visit OKC at the Paycom Center for their second and final matchup.
The loss to the Thunder snapped the Knicks' three-game win streak. It's their first loss of the month, and they will begin their challenging five-game road trip. New York will face the Denver Nuggets on Friday to kick things off and will have a back-to-back against both Los Angeles teams (Lakers and Clippers).