THE NEW YORK Knicks threw away a 19-point lead and lost 101-100 to the Washington Wizards on a last-second goaltending call in a stunning finale at the O2 Arena in London.
Allonzo Trier, celebrating his 23rd birthday, was deemed to have illegally blocked Thomas Bryant’s go-ahead bucket and they were unable to salvage a result with 0.4 seconds put back on the clock following a review.
The Wizards started the fourth quarter with a 17-2 run as they bounced back from a double-overtime loss to Eastern Conference leaders the Toronto Raptors in dramatic fashion.
Bradley Beal scored a game-high 26 points as he carried the load again in the absence of injured duo John Wall and Dwight Howard, with the Knicks now having won just two of their last 20 games.
There were arguably bigger names in the crowd than on the Knicks’ roster – Arsenal team-mates Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Hector Bellerin were among the stars in attendance – but they stormed ahead thanks to four three-pointers from Luke Kornet in the opening quarter.
Damyean Dotson and Trier impressed from the bench and were in double-digits as the Knicks moved 19 points clear during the second quarter.
However, Beal made three straight shots and a corner three from Tomas Satoransky helped get the deficit back down to 10 at the half.
Emmanuel Mudiay turned up the heat in the third quarter by adding 10 of his 25 points, though it was Troy Brown Jr’s dunk on Frank Ntilikina that drew the loudest reaction from the crowd.
Beal hit a pair of threes either side of one from Otto Porter Jr and the shooting guard completed an and-one play to put the Wizards four points clear as the game was turned on its head.
Noah Vonleh bullied Bryant as the lead changed hands again with 33.7 seconds remaining, but the Wizards were not to be denied at the last.
Ahead of the final weekend of European pool games, Murray Kinsella, Andy Dunne and Gavan Casey look at what each of the provinces can expect, and who impressed last weekend:
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