Fake comebacks, physicality, drama, controversy- Knicks-Pistons game 3 had it all. Despite a second-half meltdown, NY edged out a hard-fought 118-116 win. But amid all the energetic air surrounding the Little Caesars Arena, one headline stood tall. And Knicks’ Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns didn’t hold back on their remarks.

With the Knicks enjoying a one-possession lead in the dying seconds of the game, the Pistons received another chance to keep their chances of winning alive. 0.5 seconds on the clock, and Brunson gets fouled in his own half– receiving two free throws. As usual, he sinks the first. But on advice from head coach Tom Thibodeau, Brunson missed the second to destroy all Pistons’ hopes for a game 3 comeback. But the clock still ran, and the buzzer sounded before anyone could touch the ball.

Then came the postgame press. To be fair, neither JB nor KAT held back. But they weren’t overly critical of it, just chuckling on giving the officials some props for giving Detroit the advantage they so desperately needed. “Shoutout to their table. 10 years, I ain’t never seen that. They gave ’em a chance. Shoutout to them. I got nothing but respect for that,” said KAT. Even Brunson joined in on the fun, having his big man’s back. “They need a raise for that. Smart on their part.”

To be fair, it was a pretty frustrating game for the Knicks. It seemed like the Pistons were really milking the “home advantage” cow till it was ripe. On top of that, there were a total of five technical fouls and one flagrant foul in the game. Talk about brutality and competitiveness. But they did prevail, despite nearly crashing out in the second half. KAT led the field with 31 points, while the newly crowned Clutch Player of the Year came up huge with a 30/9/7 statline in 39 minutes.

The clock malfunction mishap will continue to ring bells around the media for a while. It’s not every day you see such instances play out. But this rang a different nostalgia through the veins of the OG ultras who remembered an odd rule being put in the playbook. And guess what- the Knicks were involved in that rule coming into existence, too.

NBA reporters signal Trent Tucker Rule coming into play in Knicks vs Pistons

While on the Brian Windhorst & the Hoop Collective podcast, national reporter Tim Bontemps highlighted something interesting. The whole clock malfunction incident gave him a mental trip back to the old days, when the NBA introduced a bizarre rule to be followed for eternity. And ironically, this rule involved the Knicks too. Any idea as to what it was? Let’s get a reminder.

“This is where the Trent Tucker rule ironically involving the Knicks came in 40 years ago.. So because no time came off the clock, in theory, this would have allowed the Pistons to have a chance to have a catch and shoot to win the game,” said Bontemps on the pod. If you’re new around here, the “Trent Tucker Rule” in basketball dictates that with less than 0.3 seconds remaining on the game clock, a player cannot attempt a catch-and-shoot. And the final seconds of game 3 looked exactly like that.

Jalen missed the first shot to avoid any sort of Pistons hopes. He knew they’d be shooting blanks due to just 0.5 seconds remaining on the clock. No one even touched the ball. So who rung the buzzer, and why? “The answer is that the officials start the clock. I believe there, is a fail safe where the clock operator also does it which is- [I] suspect might’ve been who started it. But the officials have a box, a device on their belt that starts the clock,” said Tim. This really gives a whole new angle to Jalen and KAT’s calls at the base of the “home court advantage.”

Truly a historic moment in the NBA. KAT and Jalen Brunson might shrug the incident off as the officials playing into the home court advantage of the Pistons. But this game only gave the NBA one message- it’s tipped to be the best first-round series this year. Strap in.