NBA supports officials following controversial non-call in Knicks Game 3 win

DETROIT — J.B.Bickerstaff wanted answers.

He got them, though they might not have been the ones he was looking for.The Pistons could have had a real shot to tie the score late in the Knicks’ 118-116 Game 3 win Thursday night at Little Caesars Arena.Bickerstaff complained about a controversial non-call that would have given them that chance.

Dennis Schroder posted three images of the play on his Instagram story, along with an eyeballs emoji.But the NBA says the decision was correct.With 5.8 seconds left, Jalen Brunson received an inbounds pass from Mikal Bridges.

The pass led him back toward his own basket, but the ball first hit his hand when he was in the frontcourt.Brunson then stepped into the backcourt with the ball.He was not called for a backcourt violation, despite the Pistons’ — and their fans’ — pleas.

The Knicks were up 116-113 at the time, so if it had been called, the Pistons would have gotten the ball in a one possession game with enough time to get a quality shot.“The Brunson play where he catches the ball in the frontcourt, recognizes that he’s getting ready to go in the backcourt, and then drops the ball,” Bickerstaff said after the game.“And we had a timeout with 5.8 seconds on the clock.

So, there’s some things procedurally that I have questions about, and I’d be interested to hear some answers.”According to the rulebook, “If the momentum of the offensive player receiving the pass carries him into the backcourt,” it is not a backcourt violation if the receiving player did not establish position with full possession of the ball in the frontcourt.That’s exactly what crew chief Zach Zarba explained after the game.“Rule 4, Section 6G, the frontcourt backcourt status is not obtained until a player with the ball has established a positive position in either half, in this instance, during the throw in the last two minutes of the fourth period and the last two minutes in any overtime period,” Zarba said.“So, obvi...