San Antonio Spurs drew significantly more whistles than the New York Knicks in the 2025-26 regular season, averaging 3.6 more free-throw attempts per game than their opponents while the Knicks averaged 1.4 fewer. That gap has not closed in the Finals.
Through the first two games of the series, the Spurs attempted 19 more free throws than the Knicks—excluding attempts taken by Mitchell Robinson when he was intentionally fouled. The disparity only widened in Game 3. While the Knicks attempted six more free throws in the first half, the Spurs held a 24-8 advantage at the charity stripe after halftime.
Knicks coach Mike Brown devoted roughly three minutes of his post-game press conference to the officiating, a rarity for him.
"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. "It's going to lower our odds big time, big time, if we play Game 4 and in the second half they get 24 free throw attempts to our eight. Maybe we were fouling. Maybe we were fouling. But they fouled, too."
Brown cited a specific fourth-quarter possession where Karl-Anthony Towns gathered a loose ball off a Jalen Brunson miss, was struck on the arm attempting a layup, and the ball went out of bounds with no foul called. The Knicks had 48 total free throw attempts across the game to the Spurs' 48 in the second half alone—a gap that felt every bit as large as the scoreboard suggested.
The Spurs' physicality drew attention beyond the free-throw disparity. Victor Wembanyama appeared to escape calls on several borderline plays, including an apparent shove to Brunson's head early in Game 3 and an extended hold on Jose Alvarado during a boxout in Game 2 that drew no whistle. Brown acknowledged both teams played physically but noted the enforcement had not been even.
"Again, I don't complain much," Brown said. "I never thought I'd see that in an NBA Finals game, and I saw it tonight. That's tough to overcome when you're playing against a great team."
Game 2 was decided by a single point. The Knicks did not amplify the officiating discussion publicly—Brunson declined to expand on the contact from Wembanyama, responding simply: "Whatever you saw is what you saw." Towns was blunt: "That ain't cost us the game."