SORRY, KNICKS, NBA SAYS REFS SCREWED UP
NBA admits Wizards’ assistant should have been penalized
Yup, Wizards assistant coach Sidney Lowe was wrong. Even the league said so.
Lowe should have been assessed a technical foul for coming out on the court near the Knicks’ Courtney Lee in one of the pivotal moments of Thursday’s game, the league decreed in its daily Last Two Minute Report. While the world wondered why Lee didn’t shoot with the Knicks down three, the league’s findings Friday and Lee’s postgame explanation illuminated the matter.
“A WAS assistant coach stands on the floor close to Lee (NYK) for several seconds and should have been assessed a technical foul,” with 7.6 seconds left in the Knicks’ 113-110 loss, the Last Two Minute Report read, so the play was deemed an incorrect non-call.
Friday evening, after reviewing the incident, the NBA fined Lowe $5,000 and hit the Wizards with a $15,000 fine. Any move such as a protest would be the Knicks’ call, but the league generally upholds such bids on misapplication of rules. Routinely, the NBA reviews all games, not just plays embroiled in controversy.
Because there was no contact, it seems unlikely the league will take any action beyond the fines. During the 2000 Eastern Conference Finals, Rick Carlisle, then a Pacers assistant, tripped Latrell Sprewell, apparently inadvertently. Carlisle’s only punishment was a $10,000 fine — and that was a playoff game with obvious contact.
The Wizards did not make Lowe available to the media afterwards — saying only the head coach and team president can comment. The Wizards’ offices were closed Friday because of the presidential inauguration. The Knicks, back at the Garden to face the Suns on Saturday, also did not comment as a team, though players spoke after the game about one thorn in their latest prickly loss.
“I’m hearing somebody right next to me saying, ‘I’m here! I’m here! I got your stunt!’ ” said Lee, who appeared to have a momentary wide open look before driving and passing to Brandon Jennings with the move resulting in a turnover. “So I don’t shoot it, I drop the ball thinking it is going to be a double close out and I try to make a play to Brandon. I think he bobbled the ball a little bit and that is the end of the game. Come to find out it was the assistant coach, not a player.”
Said Knicks center Kyle O’Quinn of Lowe, “At any level you can’t do that.”
In replays, Lowe was clearly visible standing on the court near Lee. But officials watch players and the ball, not coaches. Still, there should have been a technical assessed.
“I thought it was one of their players because I was getting ready to shoot ... so I shot-faked and drove. I still should have shot,” Lee said. “I don’t know if it was part of the defensive scheme for a coach to be out there saying that and being on the floor standing next to me but it happens. We lost. I should have shot it.”
So the loss, which wasted Carmelo Anthony’s 34-point effort that included a franchise record 25-point second quarter (the most points ever by a Knick in any quarter) was another emotional toothache, another defeat where they led in the final minute, another game that contained a wasted comeback. The Knicks gave up just 13 points in the fourth quarter. And lost. Perhaps the 100 points yielded in the first three quarters were to blame.
“Anytime you lose, it adds to the frustration,” said O’Quinn, who started the last two games for Joakim Noah (ankle). “It’s 48 minutes and you’ve really got to play 48 minutes. We’re getting better. Just got to find a way to close them out.”
Said Anthony: “Early on in the season when we were winning games, we were winning close games. Now that we’re losing games we’re losing close games.”
Bottom line: Any loss remains a loss.
“Losing games, no matter if you lose by one or 20, it’s still a loss,” Derrick Rose said.