It’s been over two weeks since the New York Knicks protested the controversial fouls awarded to the Houston Rockets in a 105-103 defeat, but the NBA has finally announced their ruling.
On Wednesday, the NBA decided to reject the Knicks’ protest on the grounds that the fouls were awarded via an error in judgment rather than a blatant misapplication of the rules. The NBA declared that a protest must feature a clear misapplication of the rules in order for it to be upheld.
“The NBA today denied the New York Knicks’ protest of their 105-103 loss to the Houston Rockets on February 12, 2024.
“The Knicks protested the result of the game of the ground that shooting foul was called incorrectly on the Knicks’ Jalen Brunson for making contact with the Rockets’ Aaron Holiday during a last-second shot attempt. 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.”
NBA fans feel that it’s a bit of a moot point as the Knicks got a controversial win over the Detroit Pistons a few days later:
“They “made up” for it with that Pistons game …. carry on,” one user replied.
“NBA came back and said: ‘we can’t overturn the Rockets game, but we will give you a win over the Pistons,'” wrote another.
“If that wasn’t overturned, it’s damn near impossible to get an appeal approved,” a third pointed out.
At least now we know what the NBA’s standard is.