Knicks may have lost time for last shot
How close was the Knicks' 118-116 loss to the Celtics Wednesday night? The three-pointer Amar'e Stoudemire hit was released two-tenths of a second after the final buzzer sounded. And those two-tenths of a second might have been lost at the other end of the court after Paul Pierce hit his go-ahead jumper with what the clock read as four-tenths of a second remaining.
Frame-by-frame reviews of Pierce's shot show the ball completely through the net with six-tenths of a second remaining, but the clock didn't stop for another two-tenths of a second. Precious time, considering Stoudemire's shot could have counted and the Knicks could have won the game to extend their winning streak to nine.
It was time that Mike D'Antoni and his coaching staff asked the officiating crew to check on during the ensuing timeout.
"I said, 'Are you sure? Look at the tape to make sure we got four-tenths,' " D'Antoni said. "That's all I did. They said they did."
The officials are not required to check the clock on made baskets. According to the NBA rulebook, the time is reviewable only when a play is made at the buzzer or the ball goes out of bounds.
NBA rules also require that the clock stop on a made basket in the final two minutes of the fourth quarter and overtime, but there obviously is a margin of error allowed for human reaction, which is the time it takes for the timekeeper to see the made basket and stop the clock.
An NBA source said the league did not review the play.
"At the time, it was a great shot by Pierce and a great shot by Amar'e," D'Antoni said. "We were on the wrong end by two-tenths."
