The 2026 NBA Finals were supposed to be one with a lot of really fun and cool storylines. You have the young Spurs lead by an international superstar in Victor Wembanyama taking on Jalen Brunson, his college buddies, and the New York Knicks looking to get revenge on the 1999 NBA Finals for a chance to lift the Larry O’Brien trophy for the first time in 53 years. And while there’s been some nuanced, and interesting discourse surrounding Wembanyama’s strengths and weaknesses, the Spurs relentless defense,
the Knicks’ will to win, Karl-Anthony Towns’ growth as an elite two-way player, it’s at times been wiped out by the consistent talk surrounding the officiating.
The Spurs have notably taken 23 more free throws in just three games. And while the Knicks have been fouling, there just seems to be a general lack of consistency among how much physicality each defense is allowed to get away with. Not only that, there’s been plenty of discussions around Wembanyama’s potential flagrant fouls, as well as the fact that the Knicks have had to use some of their challenges on what seemed like pretty obvious calls. How about the odd technical foul that Mitchell Robinson received while De’Aaron Fox, and Wembayama got away with shoving Brunson after a whistle with no punishment? Or the double standard when it comes to what a flagrant foul on a three-pointer is? And last, but certainly not least, what was that odd situation last night when the Spurs were allowed to bring in six players on the court without a technical foul?
I’m sure the Spurs and their fanbase feels like it’s been a relatively evenly called series, and they’d argue that there’s plays that they feel like have been called against them. But as a whole, it’s not a good sign that in the biggest games of the year, so much of the talk, even from neutral fanbases, and even writers have spoken about the odd officiating.
And last night, Mike Brown seemingly had had enough. Brown, who has spent much of his inaugural season as the Knicks coach staying away from speaking about officials, weighed in on the matter after the game last night. “I never thought I’d be in the NBA Finals and see a team get 24 free throw attempts in the second half to another team’s eight,” Brown said.
He, and the Knicks, as well as their fans, may be disappointed though. In the NBA’s official last two minute report that was released Tuesday afternoon, there were no incorrect calls. What’s even more unfortunate for the Knicks though, is the fact that many of the calls that they had gripes with came earlier in the game. As many have alluded to, the Knicks didn’t lose solely because of the officiating. No matter how questionable you may think the officiating may or may not have been, the Knicks had a chance to win the game. If they take care of the ball, shoot better, and defend better, they still are likely up 3-0.
But this sheds some light on just how flawed, and at times unnecessary the report can feel. It doesn’t address the first 46 minutes of the game, which happens to account for 95.8% of the game, and even if a call was to ruled as incorrect, then what? The team doesn’t get to replay those minutes. The officiating crew doesn’t get punished. It’s a system that pretends to hold people accountable, but really ends up being pointless more times than not. Regardless though, the Knicks, despite ending up on the worse end of the whistle at times, have to play better.
