Irate Williams Blasts Refs After Loss
Photo: Special to the NY Beacon
By Samori Benjamin
Photo: Special to the NY Beacon
The Knicks avoided what would have felt like the worse loss of the season on Monday night with a 113-111 win over the Detroit Pistons who are owners of the NBA’s worse record at 8-49. To make matters worse, guard Quentin Grimes, who the Knicks traded to Detroit two weeks ago came back to Madison Square and scored all 14 of his points in the fourth quarter including a driving layup to put Detroit up 111-110 with 37 seconds remaining.
Photo: Special to the NY Beacon
The game took a controversial turn after that as the Knicks missed two three-point attempts on their next position before Knicks guard Donte Divincenzo turned the ball over after the Knicks rebounded the second three-point miss, but the referees allowed Divincenzo to foul Detroit’s Ausar Thompson in an attempt to get the ball back following his turnover. The officials held their whistle which allowed Divincenzo to steal the ball and quickly pass to forward Josh Hart who put in the game winning basket on an and-one finish with three seconds remaining.
Photo: Special to the NY Beacon
After the game Detroit Pistons Head Coach Monty Williams cried foul and blasted the refs before storming off the postgame podium refusing to answer any questions.
In the Knicks locker room, their leader Jalen Brunson was relieved to get the win. “They’re an NBA team with NBA players so we can’t take them lightly and we can’t look at their record,” Brunson said after finishing with 35 points and 12 assists “Despite their record they played really well and they got a lot of players over there and they really showed up tonight and put us to the test but we just made one extra play.”
The Saturday before the Knicks hosted the eastern conference leading Boston Celtics and once again New York was without All-Star Julius Randle and OG Anunoby resulting in a 116-102 loss. The Celtics were led by Jaylen Brown (30 points) and had 5 other players score in double figures. As he has done all season, Brunson led all scorers (34 points) but only 4 other players scored in double figures. The team refused to make excuses not having Randle and Anunoby. Said Brunson after the loss, “it’s definitely difficult,” he began. “We got to step up to the challenge. I gotta be better, plain and simple.”
The Knick next two games were at home as they hosted Zion Williamson and the New Orleans Pelicans Tuesday night. Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors invaded the Garden Thursday night.
Sports Editor Andrew Rosario Contributed to this article.
