NBA won’t escalate Wembanyama shove after missed foul

NBA won’t – The NBA reviewed Victor Wembanyama’s first-quarter shove of Jalen Brunson in Game 3 of the Finals and decided against upgrading it to a flagrant foul, a decision Knicks fans and coach Mike Brown will watch closely as New York heads into Game 4 at Madison Squar

For Knicks fans at Madison Square Garden. the moment lasted only a few seconds—long enough to turn into a hot flash of anger. In Game 3 of the NBA Finals. Victor Wembanyama shoved Jalen Brunson hard with both hands as Brunson tried to set a screen in the first quarter. No foul was called, and no review was triggered at the time.

That’s where the NBA’s handling of the play now ends. The league reviewed the shove after San Antonio’s 115-111 win at Madison Square Garden and decided not to upgrade it to a flagrant foul. a person with knowledge of the decision confirmed. The decision also came despite NBA head of officiating Monty McCutchen acknowledging on ESPN’s “NBA Today” that officials “got it wrong.”.

Wembanyama’s shove sent Brunson toward the floor and drew an immediate reaction from the MSG crowd. Brunson didn’t fall all the way to the floor, but he had to brace himself from the push. He got up and confronted Wembanyama before play moved on.

McCutchen later laid out why he believed a foul was missed. “Well most certainly, I think we can all agree that a foul was missed on that play. We have a big part of our job is to, on-ball, off-ball exchanges between referees. We did a poor job of that here where we got two people on-ball and we don’t see the screening action. Lots of fighting over screens throughout the game and if we break down in our fundamentals. in even the smallest amounts. we have the opportunity to miss a clear foul. as we missed here.”.

Replays showed Brunson grabbing Wembanyama’s jersey before the shove, which may have contributed to the league’s choice not to escalate the call. After the game, Brunson said the aftermath was straightforward. “Whatever you saw is what you saw,” he told reporters.

The ruling matters because of how it affects Wembanyama’s postseason discipline. The decision keeps him at two flagrant foul points for the postseason. both from his Flagrant 2 ejection against Minnesota in the second round. If the shove had been upgraded to a Flagrant 1. he would have reached three points—one shy of an automatic suspension.

For New York, the sting is heightened by how officials handled a similar moment later in the same game. In the third quarter, with the Knicks leading 71-67, Brunson closed out on Julian Champagnie on a 3-point attempt. Their feet tangled, and officials upgraded the contact to a Flagrant 1 on Brunson. Champagnie completed a four-point play, the Spurs cut the deficit to one, and San Antonio went on to win.

The officiating complaints didn’t stop at that comparison. Brown also questioned the broader flow of whistles after San Antonio drew far more free throws. San Antonio outshot New York 24-8 at the free throw line in the second half, a gap that left the Knicks coach openly questioning the officiating.

“I never thought I would be in the NBA Finals and see a team get 24 free throw attempts in the second half to another team’s eight,” Brown said.

The series is still alive for the Knicks: New York leads 2-1. But with Game 4 scheduled for Wednesday at Madison Square Garden, the question for fans won’t be whether the league sees missed calls—it’s why this one ended short of escalation after the review.

NBA Finals Victor Wembanyama Jalen Brunson missed foul call flagrant foul Monty McCutchen Knicks vs Spurs Mike Brown Madison Square Garden officiating review Game 4