Knicks star Karl-Anthony Towns rejects Mike Brown's officiating criticism: 'We didn't execute'

Shortly after the New York Knicks’ Game 3 defeat in the NBA Finals, Mike Brown turned his attention to the officiating.

"I talked to [the officials]. They outshot us 14-3 in the third quarter from the free throw line. I talked to them, and they said, well, this is a foul, this is a foul," Brown told reporters after the San Antonio Spurs trimmed the Knicks' series lead to 2-1. "That's the question I had with them is, you're right. Maybe we did foul. But they fouled, too."

Karl-Anthony Towns, one of the catalysts behind New York’s postseason success, struck a different tone ahead of Game 4.

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"Naw, that ain’t cost us the game," Towns told reporters when asked about Brown’s comments. "Turned the ball over. Didn’t execute. Didn’t do what got us 13 straight wins in a row. That’s how you lose a game. We didn’t do what we've been doing for 13. We decided to do something different. … And throwing the ball away is a clear indication of how you’re going to lose the game, especially in the playoffs."

The box score seemed to underscore Brown's primary complaint, as the Spurs attempted three times as many free throws as the Knicks in the second half of Monday's 115-111 victory.

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The Knicks were in the penalty for the majority of the fourth quarter. A cold-shooting second half saw New York connect on 36% of its field-goal attempts.

While it remains to be seen whether officiating will play a role in Wednesday night’s game at Madison Square Garden, Brown appeared intent on making it part of the buildup to Game 4.

"It's going to be that because I said it. The story is going to be there," Brown continued during a news conference. "But there are some controllables that we did not do a good job of doing. We allowed them to hit first at the beginning of the game. We allowed them to hit first in the beginning of the second half."

Towns finished Game 3 with 11 points and eight rebounds, a noticeable drop from his team-high 21-point performance in New York’s Game 2 victory over the Spurs. Jalen Brunson led the Knicks in scoring Monday with 32 points.

Game 4 tips off at 8:30 p.m. EDT, with the series returning to San Antonio for Game 5 on Saturday.

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