Tim Hardaway Jr. wasn’t in a talking mood after the game.
“You guys saw it,” the Detroit Pistons’ veteran sharpshooter told reporters, the end of Game 4 still weighing heavily on him and the team. “It’s blatant.”
Hardaway, who only took one question before exiting the locker room, was right. Crew chief David Guthrie confirmed it after the Pistons’ 94-93 loss to the New York Knicks: Hardaway was fouled on his game-winning 3-point attempt at the buzzer that missed wide, costing the Pistons a series-tying win on their home floor.
The clock expired and Hardaway was denied a chance to shoot three free throws.
The Pistons are now facing an elimination game in Game 5 in New York on April 29. The missed call has stacked the odds against the sixth-seed Pistons, who have otherwise played the Knicks evenly through four games and controlled most of the second halves.
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“During live play, it was judged that Josh Hart made a legal defensive play,” Guthrie told the pool reporter after the game. “After postgame review, we observed that Hart makes body contact that is more than marginal to Hardaway Jr. and a foul should have been called.”
More: The last shot was rough, but Detroit Pistons’ inexperience truly to blame for Game 4 loss
With 11 seconds left in the game facing a one-point deficit, Cade Cunningham brought the ball up the floor. He took a shot from midrange with seven seconds remaining, and missed. The ball bounced and found Hardaway in the corner, and he prepared to shoot as Josh Hart closed out to defend. Before Hardaway could leave his feet, Hart jumped and Hardaway pumped before rising into the shot.
There was contact and Hart didn’t give Hardaway enough room to get the shot off. But it wasn’t called, to the Pistons’ dismay. They had led by 11 points with 8:35 to play, but the no-call allowed the Knicks to pull off a comeback win led by their two stars, Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns.
“Cade got his shot,” coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. “He got to his spot and he got to his shot and got the shot that he liked and we all liked, and I trust Cade to take that shot 100 times in a row. You go back and look at the film, the guy leaves his feet and there’s contact on Tim Hardaway’s jump shot.
“I don’t know any other way around it. There’s contact on his jump shot. The guy leaves his feet, he’s at Timmy’s mercy. And repeat, there was contact on his jump shot.”
Bickerstaff was furious immediately after the missed call − he chased after the referees following the final buzzer − and so was the energetic crowd at Little Caesars Arena. It capped a brutal final six minutes of the game — they were outscored 26-14 after the 8:35 mark of the final period.
Brunson led the way with 15 clutch points in the final period, and Towns hit a difficult jumper from behind-the-backboard and two 3-pointers in the final three minutes to win it. Hardaway was also clutch, answering Towns with a 3-pointer and midrange jumper before the referees missed the call on his 3-pointer at the buzzer.
“It’s tough,” said Cade Cunningham, who finished with a triple-double (25 points, 10 assists, 10 rebounds and four blocks). “Sometimes that’s the way the ball bounces. Sometimes it’s not the ball bounces, sometimes it’s outside of that.
“We’ve gotta control what we can control, be a little more disciplined, be more focused and find ways to pull these games out.”
In back-to-back games, the Pistons have lost because late no-calls. Their Game 3 loss to the Knicks was controversial after Brunson was granted momentum on what appeared to be a backcourt violation, allowing the Knicks to retain possession.
They trailed by 16 points late in the first half in Game 4, but held the Knicks to 10-for-44 shooting (22.7%) in the second and third periods to mount a comeback. They outscored them 42-16 through the two periods, allowing them to take control before the Knicks’ late push.
Cunningham was diplomatic about the missed call afterward, saying he understood how the games have been officiated and the Pistons have to control their own destiny. They’ll face a rowdy Madison Square Garden crowd in Game 5 and try to extend their season by at least one game.
“It’s nothing different from what we’ve seen before,” he said. “So at the end of the day we have to make sure that we dictate the game and it falls on us.”
Contact Omari Sankofa II at [email protected]. Follow him on X and/or Bluesky.
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Next up: Knicks
Matchup: Pistons (1-3) at New York (3-1) Eastern Conference first round, Game 5.
Tipoff: 7:30 p.m. April 29; Madison Square Garden, New York.
TV/radio: TNT, FanDuel Sports Network Detroit; WWJ-AM (950).
The rest of the series
Game 6*: In Detroit, TBA May 1.
Game 7*: In New York, TBA May 3.
*If necessary
