Julius Randle, Tom Thibodeau and the Knicks were bruised from a bad call at the end of overtime that played a decisive role in the Philadelphia 76ers’ 101-100 win over New York on Sunday night.
“Wrong call from officials,” Randle said. “Contact is not enough for them to call the game … After all the foul and everything that was going on, for them to call him and decide the game is f —— g ridiculous. They have to do a better job . There are too many games like this. “
New York led 100-99 with six seconds to play when Shake Milton missed a layup. Nerlens Noel appeared to rebound, but Randle was called for a free ball foul on Tobias Harris.
The referees ruled that Randle pushed Harris into the game. But Randle and Thibodeau felt the call did not meet the standard set by the way the umpires handled the rest of the match.
“Usually, at the end of the game, there will be – as one would say – marginal contact, accidental contact, any other kind of contact,” said Thibodeau. “All I know is that we were very impressed. And there was no marginal contact on that (Randle foul), then.”