The Dallas Mavericks lost to the New York Knicks in heartbreaking fashion on Wednesday night, with Brandon Williams’ game-tying shot with less than a second left being waived off by one of the referees.
New York came out on top 113-111, with Jalen Brunson leading the way with 28 points, three rebounds and five assists in his return from a two-game absence. Meanwhile, D’Angelo Russell and Naji Marshall scored 23 points each for the Mavericks, as they stepped up in the absence of Cooper Flagg and Anthony Davis.
The Mavs fought well and were close to forcing overtime. With 3.8 seconds left, Williams got the ball near half-court and proceeded to attack the basket for the game-tying layup. Unfortunately, his shot didn’t count after the referee called an offensive foul.
The controversial call quickly drew the ire of viewers, with many claiming that it shouldn’t have been called. Many were also confused about when exactly the offensive foul happened.
“NBA refs really saw Brandon Williams cooking and said: ‘Nope. Not on a Wednesday,'” a commenter wrote. Another one said, “Knicks doing what they always do, running a 7-man lineup with the refs included. No one’s beating that.”
“Dallas really lost because the refs hit Square instead of Triangle,” a viewer added.
A fourth critic shared, “Am I missing something or how tf is that on offensive foul.”
“That call is gonna be argued for days,” a poster added.
With the loss, the Mavs dropped to 4-12 on the season, placing them at 13th in the Western Conference standings. The Knicks, for their part, improved to 9-5 for third in the Eastern Conference.
Sure enough, the controversial call will be a major talking point moving forward, especially as criticism on NBA refs intesifies.
