Monty Williams hit the road Monday night after the wild ending to the Detroit Pistons' loss to the New York Knicks.
The Pistons head coach was furious with the referee after what he thought was an obvious missed call in a chaotic sequence in the final seconds at Madison Square Garden. Williams attacked the referees and the league for about a minute after the 113-111 loss to the Knicks before getting up and leaving the interview room for good.
These comments are sure to get Williams fined by the league in the coming days.
After a chaotic finish and what the Pistons saw as a missed foul call in the final seconds, Monty Williams attacked the referees Monday night at Madison Square Garden.
After a chaotic finish and what the Pistons saw as a missed foul call in the final seconds, Monty Williams attacked the referees Monday night at Madison Square Garden.
It's easy to understand why he was so upset in his defense. In the final seconds on Monday night, the finish was really chaotic.With the Pistons leading by one point in the final minutes, both teams struggled to possess the ball as the Knicks missed shots. After a lot of missed shots and turnovers, Ausar Thompson managed to get the ball and started pushing the ball up the court.Before he could make any progress, however, Knicks guard Donte DiVincenzo jumped on the ball, tearing Thompson's legs off in the process. No foul was called.
Jalen Brunson then grabbed the loose ball and found Josh Hart, who made a layup and eventually made a free throw to convert the three-point play and give the Knicks the win.
There was a lot of contact between DiVincenzo and Thompson, but the referees did not call a foul. Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau didn't want to get into the rankings when asked immediately after the game, but said he thought it was "very physical overall" between the two teams.
"You can go back to the whole game and make small talk," DiVincenzo said, via Fred Katz of The Athletic.
"Overall, do I think we dodged a bullet? Yeah.I have a lot of respect for Monty and everybody out there.Like I said, we dodged a bullet with the win."Crew chief James Williams told Brian Mahoney of The Associated Press after the game that they should have fouled DiVincenzo after reviewing the last play.But it didn't matter because it wasn't called at the moment.Brunson led the Knicks to victory with 35 points and 12 assists, which brought them to 35-23 on the season, good for fourth place in the Eastern Conference. Hart added 23 points and 8 rebounds, while DiVincenzo finished with 21 points on 5/10 shooting from behind the arc.
Cade Cunningham led the Pistons with 32 points. Jalen Düren had 11 points and 16 rebounds, while Thompson had 7 points and 4 rebounds. The Pistons are just 8-49 this season, the worst record in the league, and have not won a game since the All-Star break.
