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Tim BontempsESPN
New York Knicks striker Julius Randle had to be prevented by his teammates from confronting Scott Foster after the veteran referee called a trip against him in the final seconds of New York’s 117-112 defeat to Brooklyn Nets the night of Monday.
“It was a conversation, but I think it is better not to comment on the situation,” Randle said later. “There was a lot of frustration behind it and – I mean, on both sides – so I’m going to let that go in the past and move on to the next game.
“It was just frustrating. Obviously, we struggled a lot to come back and try to win the game. So I was just frustrated. And that was it. But we have another chance to fight tomorrow. So focus on what.”
Randle had a chance to tie the game in the final seconds, when he got up to make a 3-point basket with five seconds to finish. But Nets star Kyrie Irving managed to hit the ball on the way up, causing Randle to juggle and fail to shoot.
“We had a play planned, obviously, and I thought Ky was going to go up and be missed right away, so I tried to go a little faster,” said Randle. “But the play has happened – whatever has happened is what it is and is in the past.”
With that, when he tried to dribble the ball to the ground, he was called on a trip by Foster with 3.2 seconds left.
After James Harden took the pass on the field and dropped a few free throws to seal the win for Brooklyn, who has now won 13 of his last 14 games, Randle was still furious with Foster. He had to be restrained by newcomer Obi Toppin, among others, when he tried to pass it on to Foster after the game.
Randle, who finished with 33 points, 12 rebounds, six assists and three steals in 41 minutes, was eventually kicked off the floor, in part by Knicks executive William Wesley, although he knocked over a chair when he came out of the bottom bowl when he marched back to the visiting locker room.
“I was going to be missed at the start, but I saw him getting ready for a shot,” said Irving, who led all the top scorers with 34 points. “I thought I could get a good hand. Scott paid for the trip. I thought Julius made a good move after putting him on the floor.
“This is how it looked. This is how it happened.”
Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau, on the other hand, was not so magnanimous.
“I thought it was a difficult decision,” said Thibodeau. “I thought we had a lot of difficult decisions along the way.”
Foster explained why the trip call was made after the game.
“The defender was considered to have touched the ball, but it did not cause it to be displaced or lost,” he told the pool reporter. “After that, when the player lands, he cannot purposely drop the ball or dribble the ball or be the first to touch after releasing the ball.”
The furor surrounding the call against Randle overshadowed a savage comeback from the Knicks, who lost 115-108 with 28.6 seconds remaining only to force two balls over the top by tying Harden and Joe Harris in consecutive possession.
Ultimately, however, Irving’s move ensured that Brooklyn was victorious in the Battle of the Boroughs.
“I think as a player, we feel it naturally,” said Irving, who was a Nets fan who grew up in northern New Jersey, of the rivalry between the Knicks and the Nets.
“But obviously, being from here, it’s a little different feeling, because I have to go home and really be close to the Knicks and Nets fans. It’s my family. So it’s basketball, it’s competition. It’s a world sport. So it’s just nothing but respect. But obviously, you want to come here and have fun playing against the New York Knicks. They’ve been playing well this season. They are a well-trained team, and I appreciate the opportunity. “