As the New York Knicks held on to a 94-93 victory on Sunday to establish a three games to one lead in its first-round playoff series against the Detroit Pistons, there was a controversial lack of a foul call from the officials. Pistons guard Tim Hardaway Jr. hoisted a three-point shot from the corner that Knicks forward Josh Hart tried to defend, and when the buzzer sounded with no call, head coach J.B. Bickerstaff was incensed. After the game, crew chief David Guthrie admitted that a foul should have been called in the situation, and Tim Legler tried to digest the situation in real time on the airwaves alongside Dave Pasch and Katie George. Legler elucidated on the situation during an interview on the Dan Patrick Show on Monday morning.
“My vantage point calling the game, Dan, was tough because it was across the court all the way in the corner to my right – all the way across the court – with a lot of bodies over there,” Legler explained. “So the shot goes off, and we couldn’t see it until we saw the replay. Once I saw the replay, I believe I said it on the air, my last comment on it was, ‘There’s no doubt shooters typically are going to get that call,’ but then I went on to say, ‘but at the same time, there was almost nothing called in the second half of that game on shooters. Very little.’”
Although Legler enjoys seeing this style of basketball reminiscent of the 1990s when he played, he recognized that there was enough evidence that Hart impeded Hardaway’s ability to make the shot. The officials took accountability in addressing the matter immediately after the game in the pool report without waiting for the Last Two Minute Report to be released by the league.
“They said it once they got into the locker room and saw the play because they wanted to immediately put it out there, ‘We blew it,’” Legler said. “Now that doesn’t help Pistons fans because you’d have a 2-2 series going back to New York, and the Pistons have played very well in Madison Square Garden in this series.”
Legler reached a contract extension with ESPN this past fall, under which he has expanded his role to become an NBA game analyst on television. Outside of his commentary and studio work with ESPN, he is also the host of the ALL NBA Podcast from ALLCITY Network, recording four episodes of the show per week alongside co-host Adam Mares. The show is about to finish its second year, and it is a venture that he explained grants the viewing audience “real basketball talk” akin to the interview in which he was participating.
“It’s not hot take-ish,” Legler said. “It’s, ‘What happened in the game last night?,’ and we’re going to break it down, make you smarter, what’s coming up tonight, looking ahead, covering the entire league, especially now with playoffs are great.”
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