When Tim Hardaway Jr was traded from the Dallas Mavericks to the Detroit Pistons last summer, I don’t think he expected to be in the center of one of the most controversial no-calls in NBA playoffs history.
On the final play of Game 4, with his team down 93-94, Tim Hardaway Jr ended up with the ball in his hands with a chance to win the game on a huge 3-pointer.
He did not win the game.
Pistons fans were FURIOUS about this no-call involving some contact with Josh Hart on Tim Hardaway Jr.’s potential game-winner 👀
Good no-call or missed foul? 🤔pic.twitter.com/o8Y8u1RrwH
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) April 27, 2025
CLOSE UP OF THE TIM HARDAWAY’S SHOT IN THE FINAL SECONDS OF THE GAME pic.twitter.com/YaX6PA71TO
— Ahmed/The Ears/IG: BigBizTheGod 🇸🇴 (@big_business_) April 27, 2025
Was Tim Hardaway Jr fouled?
Yea, it sort of looks like Josh Hart gets a piece of Hardaway Jr’s arm when he double clutches his shot but the bigger question is who cares?
If the Pistons don’t want to lose on a last-second no-call, then they should score more points than a Knicks team that shot 37% from the field.
If the Pistons didn’t want to lose, then they shouldn’t have turned the ball over 19 times.
If the Pistons wanted to win this game, they shouldn’t have shot 24% from 3.
The Detroit Pistons are now down 3-1 in this first-round series. 4 games into this struggle with the Knicks and we’re concerned about one Tim Hardaway Jr foul, a foul that should have been reviewed if it weren’t for Pistons head coach, JB Bickerstaff, electing to use his challenge five minutes into the game to make the refs review a loose ball that obviously went off Cade Cunningham.
Was it a foul? Probably. But Detroit had 47 minutes to not put themselves in a position where their victory was in the hands of the officials.
Maybe next year…
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