NBA Admits Crucial Mistake Knicks vs. Celtics Game

In their second game of the regular season, the New York Knicks fell to the Boston Celtics 107-103. The game was close, but in the end, the Celtics made multiple defensive plays down the stretch to pull out the win. 

During the game, there was an important play in the fourth quarter that was a turning point in favor of the Celtics. With 57.5 seconds left in the game, a pass intended for Celtics guard Payton Pritchard was contested between him and Knicks guard Miles McBride. The ball went out of bounds off a deflection, and it was ruled Celtics ball. 

After the game, NBA officials reviewed the play and determined they made a mistake on the call. Upon further postgame review, they determined that the ball was last touched by Payton Pritchard and possession should have gone to New York. 

When the Celtics got the ball back, they were already up by 3 points, and star player Jayson Tatum hit a contested mid-range shot over Josh Hart with 49.1 seconds left in the game to go up by 5. 

That sequence was what helped the Celtics pull away late, and if the correct call had been made, there could have been a different outcome. Still, New York had their struggles in the game, and there was a lot left on the table for them. 

In this game, the Knicks were able to get to the free-throw line more often than Boston, and they outrebounded the Celtics as well. Still, there were multiple missed opportunities the Knicks will want back. 

Moving forward, New York is going to have to regroup after their 0-2 start. This is a team that came into the season with a lot of momentum following their championship run, and much of the talk of the offseason was about how hungry this core is to get back to the Finals this season. 

Many teams in the NBA, including the Celtics, who traded away Jaylen Brown for Paul George, made moves to build a roster that's capable of dethroning the Knicks in the Eastern Conference. New York is now faced with the challenge of adjusting to these new-look teams, and clearly that's not an easy feat. 

It will be interesting to see how the Knicks respond to how these teams approach them moving forward, and they will need to get wins in a hurry after a slow start.