NBA rules refs correctly didn’t call foul on Tobias Harris’ contact with Josh Hart in Game 4:

The Pistons had plenty of gripes about the missed foul call for Josh Hart’s closeout on Tim Hardaway Jr.’s potential game-winning shot, but Knicks fans had complaints of their own about the play. 

The NBA on Monday shot down those latter arguments, however. 

In its “Last Two Minute Report” of the Knicks’ 94-93 Game 4 win over the Pistons at Little Caesars Arena, the league said it was the correct decision not to call a foul on Tobias Harris for his contact with Hart prior to Hardaway’s 3-point attempt in the final seconds. 

Crew chief David Guthrie admitted after the game that Hart should have been called for a foul on Hardaway.

Hart contested Hardaway’s shot and made contact with him as he rose to shoot. It would have given Hardaway three free throws with just over a second left in the game — needing to make two to take the lead or one to tie the score. 

As Pistons fans declared the team was hosed, Knicks fans pointed out that Harris appeared to foul Hart on the rebound prior to Hardaway’s shot — Harris hooked Hart’s arm and prevented him from corralling the ball, which was batted around before finding Hardaway in the corner. 

Tobias Harris #12 of the Detroit Pistons pulls a rebound away from Josh Hart #3 of the New York Knicks during the fourth quarter. Charles Wenzelberg/New York Post

But the NBA did not back up those claims by Knicks fans. 

“Harris and Hart briefly engage and disengage during the rebound,” the league said in its report. 

Both Pistons coach J.B. Bickerstaff and Hardaway were irate that Hart was not called for a foul on Hardaway. 

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“You go back and look at the film, the guy leaves his feet,” Bickerstaff said. “There’s contact on Tim Hardaway, his jump shot. I don’t know any other way around it. There’s contact on his jump shot. The guy leaves his feet, he’s at Timmy’s mercy, and I repeat, there’s contact on his jump shot.” 

The league’s officiating report backed up Guthrie’s claim that Hart should’ve been called for a foul on the shot. 

The NBA ruled it was correct that no foul call was made on Tobias Harris for his contact with Josh Hart on the final play of Game 4. Charles Wenzelberg/New York Post

“You guys saw it,” Hardaway said. “Blatant.” 

It’s not the first time this series that there was controversy with Hart in crunch time.

Near the end of the Knicks’ 100-94 Game 2 loss at Madison Square Garden, Hart had a dunk that tied the game at 94-94 with 1:15 left in the game. Jalen Duren hit Hart in the head on the dunk, and a day later the league said in its officiating report that Duren should have been called for a foul. 

It would have given Hart an and-one opportunity with a free throw that could have given the Knicks the lead. 

“Last two minutes of Game 2, they missed an and-one dunk from me that, if I made the free throw, we’re up one,” Hart said after Game 4. “Last year, y’all saw that Philly series, there were a couple of missed calls at the end of games that we don’t pay attention to. We go with whatever they call. Sometimes it benefits us, sometimes it doesn’t.”