The Knicks’ recent protest has been officially rejected by the NBA.
The league, as expected, denied the Knicks’ filing over the admitted incorrect foul called against Jalen Brunson near the end of their Feb. 12 loss to the Rockets in Houston.
“The Knicks protested the result of the game on the ground that a shooting foul was called incorrectly on the Knicks’ Jalen Brunson for making contact with the Rockets’ Aaron Holiday during a last-second shot attempt,” the NBA said in a statement. “Under the standard for NBA game protests, New York was required to demonstrate that there was a misapplication of the official playing rules, as opposed to an error in judgment by game officials.
“Because the foul call at issue reflected an error in judgment, New York did not demonstrate a misapplication of the playing rules, and the extraordinary remedy of upholding a game protest was not warranted.”
The Knicks had filed the protest with the league in an attempt to extend the game to overtime after the officiating crew had acknowledged the incorrect foul called against Brunson — leading to two tiebreaking free throws by Holiday with 0.3 seconds remaining.
The NBA only has upheld six of 44 formal protests in its history and one since 1982 — a December 2007 game in which Heat center Shaquille O’Neal was ruled to have fouled out when he only had been assessed five fouls.
The Knicks, who were not slated to face the Rockets again this season, will be charged $10,000 for the unsuccessful protest.
Brunson (neck/cervical spasms) again has been listed as questionable for Thursday’s home game against the Warriors after sitting out Tuesday’s loss to the Pelicans. Isaiah Hartenstein (Achilles) is expected to play after being removed from the injury report. Andrew Wiggins (personal reasons) is out for the Warriors.
Veteran guard Alec Burks missed six of seven field-goal attempts — including both from 3-point range — in Tuesday’s loss.
He’s shooting 31.4 percent in seven games in his second stint with the Knicks following a deadline trade with the Pistons.
“He’s gotta shoot ’em. They’re open,” Tom Thibodeau said of Burks after the game, the Knicks’ seventh loss in their past 10 games. “We knew we were gonna have to have volume 3s and we were gonna have to make to have a chance. So I like the 3s that he got.”