The New York Knicks took Game 3 on the road against the Detroit Pistons to take a 2-1 lead in their first-round series. And the ending of the first playoff game in Detroit in six years had it all. Controversial calls, clock malfunctions—you name it.

The strange ending was all gravy for the Knicks, who survived with a 118–116 win. New York may have gotten lucky with a questionable no-call on what looked like it could have been a backcourt violation on star guard Jalen Brunson as the Knicks led by one possession with 5.8 seconds remaining. The officials explained the no-call by mentioning that Brunson's momentum took him into the backcourt, which is allowed according to the NBA's rulebook.

Brunson was fouled and made one of his two free throws, before the Pistons made a three-pointer to cut the lead to one. Detroit quickly fouled Brunson after the three, sending Brunson back to the line with 0.5 seconds left.

New York's star guard made the first foul shot and intentionally missed the second, leaving Detroit with a full-court prayer at the buzzer. But the clock operators sounded the buzzer before the Pistons touched the ball after Brunson's missed free throw.

The officials gave the Pistons the ball on the sideline with the clock remaining at 0.5 seconds. Detroit big man Jalen Duren turned the ball over on an inbound and the Knicks held onto win. No harm, no foul for New York. But Knicks star big Karl-Anthony Towns had a great reaction to the clock mishap at the end of the game.

"I ain't going to lie to you, shoutout to the [scorer's] table man," Towns said postgame when asked about the flub via MSG Networks. "Giving your team another chance like that is fire. I got to give them a lot of respect for that, I've never seen that in 10 years of basketball."

The TNT broadcast explained that neutral scorer's table operators are employed throughout the NBA playoffs, so the moment appeared to be only a costly mistake. But don't tell that to Towns and the rest of the Knicks, as they thought the call was in for the Pistons, who may have found a creative way to help their chances.

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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Karl-Anthony Towns Had Hilarious Reaction to Clock Malfunction at End of Knicks' Win.

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