Knicks’ Jalen Brunson looking to end foul trouble woes

Foul hassle is just not one thing Jalen Brunson normally struggles with.

However it’s grow to be an issue in current video games.

He picked up his fifth foul with 10:05 left within the fourth quarter of the Knicks’ 138-135 Recreation 1 time beyond regulation loss to the Pacers on Wednesday evening at Madison Sq. Backyard.

He needed to sit till the 5:00 mark because of this, and was subsequently pressured to play cautiously the remainder of the quarter and time beyond regulation.

Within the Knicks’ Recreation 5 loss to the Celtics, Brunson fouled out early within the fourth quarter after selecting up 5 fouls within the third quarter.

Previous to that sport, he had solely fouled out 4 instances in his profession — and by no means within the playoffs.

The fouls have come on each ends.

“It’s just me being smart and understanding, offensively and defensively, what I have to do better,” Brunson mentioned Thursday. “It is what it is, you just gotta be smart.”

Does he assume he’s being officiated in another way than he had been beforehand?

“If they call a foul, it’s a foul,” Brunson mentioned. “Whether we challenge it or not, it is what it is.”

It appeared Tyrese Haliburton dedicated a double-dribble previous to his game-tying shot on the finish of the fourth quarter to ship Recreation 1 to time beyond regulation.

Whereas driving to the rim and earlier than he stepped again in a failed effort to get behind the 3-point line, Haliburton grabbed the ball with two fingers earlier than resuming his dribble.

However in its Final Two Minute Report launched Thursday, the NBA mentioned that it was an accurate non-call.

“Haliburton briefly loses control of the ball after it is deflected by [Mikal] Bridges,” the league mentioned within the report. “He then legally dribbles, gathers the ball, and takes two steps into his shooting motion.”

On replay, it isn’t apparent that Bridges did, actually, contact the ball.

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Refs additionally appeared to overlook a goaltending name on Myles Turner that will have given the Knicks a six-point lead with 2:53 left in time beyond regulation.

However as a result of it was not within the final two minutes of time beyond regulation, the play was not reviewed by the league within the report.

The one two incorrect calls, per the report, benefitted the Knicks.

The league mentioned Karl-Anthony Cities ought to have been referred to as for a foul on Aaron Nesmith with 1:57 left in time beyond regulation and that Bridges ought to have been referred to as for a foul on Obi Toppin with 15.6 seconds left in time beyond regulation.

Bridges thought the Knicks took their foot off the fuel throughout their fourth-quarter collapse.

“You can’t relax with them, and I think that’s what happened in the last five minutes,” Bridges mentioned. “We got the lead and we were doing well, just once you relax that little bit they take full advantage.”