NBA Finals: Knicks coach Mike Brown not happy with Game 3 officiating

NEW YORK — Before the massive media contingent at Madison Square Garden could even ask a question following Game 3 of the 2026 NBA Finals, New York Knicks head coach Mike Brown opened his media availability ripping the officials.

After all, the San Antonio Spurs outshot the Knicks from the free-throw line, 24-8, in the second half of a physical outing they decided by two possessions, 115-111.

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“I never thought I would be in the NBA Finals and see a team get 24 free-throw attempts in the second half to another team’s eight,” said Brown, who is making his sixth NBA Finals appearance with a fourth different team. “I don’t think I complain much about officials or the fairness when it comes to the free-throw attempts.”

Brown did make sure to credit the Spurs, who he said “came and took the game.”

But!

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“There were opportunities for fouls to be called, to at least try to even the free throws out,” said Brown. “Now, we didn’t play good. San Antonio played great. We could’ve played better. There were a lot of things we didn’t do that we did in Game 1 and Game 2. But to go 24 free-throw attempts in the second half, that’s 48 for the game if you think about the way they called that second half, compared to eight. All the shots we took, we got fouled four times, roughly, for eight free-throw attempts.

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“Again, I don’t complain much. I never thought I’d see it in an NBA Finals game, and I saw it tonight. That’s tough to overcome when you’re playing against a great team.”

Brown specifically called out a play with 2:30 remaining, when New York’s Jalen Brunson found teammate Karl-Anthony Towns on an inbounds pass underneath the basket in a game the Spurs led, 108-102. San Antonio’s Victor Wembanyama and De’Aaron Fox closed in on Towns, and it appeared Fox caught Towns on the arm.

No call was whistled.

Brown addressed the disparity with the officials following the third quarter, when the Spurs attempted 10 free throws to the Knicks’ two. Things didn’t get much better.

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For his part, Towns refused to…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/nba/article/nba-finals-knicks-coach-mike-brown-not-happy-with-game-3-officiating-051130864.html

Author : Ben Rohrbach

Publish date : 2026-06-09 05:11:00

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