On the NBC broadcast, Noah Eagle mentioned the timeout and how it would shape the final 5.6 seconds of the Knicks-Hawks Game 2 battle Tuesday night.
Inside the NBC studios, Carmelo Anthony touched a monitor wondering why the Knicks had not used a supposed final timeout to set up a potential game-winning shot.
And the millions watching at home surely had similar thoughts after seeing Mikal Bridges clank a last-second jumper in the Hawks’ 107-106 upset road win rather than seeing a designed play out of a timeout.
Yet, all the focus on the timeout and Knicks fans’ consternation about Mike Brown seemingly pocketing it proved to be the unfortunate outcome from what would be called a “data issue” with NBC incorrectly adding a timeout the Knicks did not actually have before the rushed final play.
“We just want to say that the scoreboard showed a timeout that the Knicks did not have on the final play, but due to a data issue, the wrong timeout information was communicated, so that’s why you see a timeout on the score bug,” NBC’s Maria Taylor said during halftime of the Timberwolves’ 119-114 Game 2 road win over the Nuggets while the studio show recapped hectic final 5.6 seconds of the Knicks’ loss.
Whether the Knicks had a timeout for the final play Tuesday had a great effect on how they handled that last shot and NBC’s untimely error altered how viewers analyzed the chaos in real time.
Before CJ McCollum took the first of his two free throw shots with 5.6 seconds remaining and the Hawks leading, 107-106, the score bug showed the Knicks with no timeouts.
That meant the Knicks would have to attempt to score from either underneath their own basket or in transition off a miss.
After McCollum missed the first free throw attempt, the Knicks suddenly had a timeout added to their tally.
Having a timeout would allow them to advance the ball and set up designed final shot out of an inbounds pass rather than a rushed play.
Eagle then noted how the presence of said timeout would affect the Knicks’ strategy.
“New York will take its timeout almost guaranteed here,” Eagle said.
McCollum missed the second and Josh Hart grabbed the rebound, yet, to the surprise of those following the score bug, he pushed ahead and passed to Bridges, who settled for a long jumper.
A contested long two-pointer is not an ideal shot, especially if one is under the impression that the Knicks had a timeout to burn.
Anthony, the Knicks legend, said that his initial frustration with the outcome in part stemmed from believing Brown had let them go.
“Well, I was touching and screaming because I was under the impression that there was a timeout, so thank you for correcting that,” Anthony said to Taylor.
Brown did not provide a concrete answer when asked if he would used a timeout had the Knicks possessed one.
“I usually like to go, so they can’t put in their best defenders and all that other stuff,” Brown said. “Five to seven seconds is close. It would have been by gut feel. There is a chance I could have taken a timeout … and then there’s a chance I wouldn’t have. I thought it was a good shot.”
NBC’s data error doesn’t completely absolve Brown, though.
He did not use the timeout the team needed to burn before the three-minute mark before losing it due to the NBA’s two-timeout maximum rule in the final 180 seconds, and then oddly used a timeout with 2:43 remaining when it seemed Jalen Brunson had a chance to score with the Knicks leading, 100-99.
Brown used his final timeout with 10.2 seconds remaining and the Knicks trailing, 107-103.
“A couple of possessions weren’t fluid,” Brown said of the timeout with 2:43 remaining. “So I wanted to make sure that we had something we wanted to get to, or to set something up offensively, because we had whiffed on the last couple possessions. It just didn’t look right, it didn’t feel right.”
