The San Antonio Spurs took down the New York Knicks 115-111 in Game 3 on Monday night at Madison Square Garden to trim the Knicks’ series lead to 2-1 in the NBA Finals.

After the game, Knicks head coach Mike Brown made it clear that he had a problem with the free-throw discrepancy in the game, particularly in the second half. The Spurs shot 32 free throws in the game and 24 free throws in the second half, while the Knicks shot 22 free throws in the game and eight in the second half.

Brown spent nearly five minutes questioning the Game 3 officiating in his postgame press conference.

Mike Brown spent almost 5 minutes at the start of his presser complaining about the officiating: pic.twitter.com/4R5W7SBlmm

— Oh No He Didn’t (@ohnohedidnt24) June 9, 2026

“I want to make sure I get something clear,” Brown began. “Coach Mitch Johnson and the Spurs, they won the game tonight. They came and took the game. But I will say this- I never thought I’d be in the NBA Finals and see a team get 24 free-throw attempts in the second half to another team’s eight. I don’t think I complain much about officials or the fairness when it comes to the free-throw attempts. San Antonio is a great team. They’re a great team. It’s going to lower our odds big time, big time, if we play Game 4, and in the second half they get free-throw attempts to our eight. And maybe we were fouling. Maybe we were fouling. But they fouled too.”

“There were opportunities for fouls to be called to at least try to even the free throws out,” Brown said. “Now, we didn’t play good. San Antonio played great. We could have played better. There were a lot of things that we didn’t do that we did in Game 1 and Game 2. But to go 24 free-throw attempts in a second half; that’s 48 for the game if you think about it the way they called it that second half. Compared to eight? All the shots we took, we got fouled four times, roughly, for eight free-throw attempts?”

“Again, I don’t complain much. I never thought I’d see that in an NBA Finals game,” Brown continued. “And I saw it tonight. It’s tough to overcome when you’re playing a great team. Having said that, again, San Antonio won the game. I’m giving their head coach and their players a lot of credit. Wemby played great. Stephon Castle played great. I’d go down the line. Fox hit a big shot late. But as a team, if you take away the fouls and the free throws that should have been, in my opinion, a little bit more even. Again, maybe we fouled that many times. But they fouled too. And it’s not shown at the end of the day on this box score.”

The Inside the NBA crew tackled Brown’s comments after the game.

The ‘Inside the NBA’ crew responds to Mike Brown’s comments about the Game 3 officiating. https://t.co/SrGjnJYprCpic.twitter.com/pSFC4siL8N

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) June 9, 2026

“He should have stopped (after) ‘We didn’t play well,'” Charles Barkley said about Brown. “They did not play well enough to win the game. The Spurs outplayed them tonight. Listen, referees are going to miss some calls. That happens. Officiating did not lose this game. You know I love Mike Brown… The bottom line was he should have stopped after, ‘We did not play well enough to win.’ That’s why they lost, not the free throws.”

“Ernie (Johnson), when I was good enough to lead my team to the Finals, one time I had a bad game, and Phil Jackson said, ‘What’s wrong?’ I said, ‘I didn’t get no calls,'” Shaquille O’Neal explained. “He put his hand on my shoulder and said, ‘World champions don’t complain.’ And he walked off. Mike Brown knows better. He’s won the Warriors. He knows what it takes to win a championship. I agree with Chuck… He should have stopped at ‘We didn’t play well.’ World champions do not complain.”

“I love Mike Brown as well,” Draymond Green said. “The referees usually side with the more aggressive team. Victor Wembanyama started the game; three of their first four possessions, he had dunks. All series long, when Victor Wembanyama has rolled, it’s been like bumper cars… Now, he gets five or six lobs today. So, I blame the Knicks for that. If you’re aggressive, if you’re not letting him roll to the rim, then they’re not penetrating to get to the basket, and they’re not getting more foul calls.”

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