The Atlanta Hawks overcame a 14-point second-half deficit at Madison Square Garden on Monday night, notching a thrilling 107-106 victory over the New York Knicks and knotting the first-round playoff series at 1-1.
Hawks veteran CJ McCollum was Atlanta’s hero, scoring a game-high 32 points and converting on some key buckets down the stretch. But with a one-point lead with just over five seconds remaining in the game, McCollum missed both of his free-throw attempts to extend the lead.
As McCollum took his second free throw, NBC play-by-play announcer Noah Eagle said the Knicks were “almost guaranteed” to take their final timeout after the attempt.
New York did not take a timeout — because it didn’t have one to take.
NBC’s score bug incorrectly showed that the Knicks had one timeout remaining as they pushed the ball up the court for their failed buzzer-beater attempt from Mikal Bridges.
During halftime of the Timberwolves-Nuggets game, NBC host Maria Taylor explained the broadcasting mistake.
“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,” she said.
Because of this NBC mistake, Knicks head coach Mike Brown received some unwarranted criticism from fans and analysts around the league.
“Down the stretch, we got some pretty good looks. We got the ball in the right players’ hands,” Brown said after the game. “We just didn’t convert.”
The Knicks will now travel to Atlanta for Game 3 of their first-round playoff series. That pivotal contest will tipoff at 7 p.m. ET on Thursday night.
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