NBC apologizes for 'data issue,' erroneous timeout on scorebug that caused confusion in Knicks-Hawks Game 2

With 5.6 seconds remaining in Game 2 of a first-round playoff series between the No. 3 seeded New York Knicks and the No. 6 seeded Atlanta Hawks, CJ McCollum missed a pair of free-throw attempts.

After McCollum’s second miss, and with a one-point deficit, Knicks wing Josh Hart reeled in a defensive rebound and immediately began pushing the ball up the floor. He hurled pass past halfcourt to Mikal Bridges, who teased a drive before stepping back out for a long jumper that clanked off the rim before the buzzer.

Just like that, the upstart Hawks, at one point down by as many as 14 points, completed their double-digit comeback at Madison Square Garden and tied the series 1-1 with a 107-106 victory.

But why didn’t the Knicks call a timeout?

The Knicks didn’t actually have a timeout to use in that final sequence, unlike the NBC broadcast suggested.

NBC apologized for the confusion during halftime of Nuggets-Timberwolves Game 2.

“We just want to say that the scoreboard showed a timeout that the Knicks did not have on the final play, but, due to a data issue, the wrong timeout information was communicated,” NBA on NBC host Maria Taylor said, via Awful Announcing.

“So that’s why you see a timeout on the scorebug.”

After narrating the Hawks-Knicks highlights, Taylor noted at the time that NBA on NBC analyst Carmelo Anthony, a 10-time All-Star who spent six-plus seasons with the Knicks from 2011-17, had his head down in reaction to the final moments of his former team’s blunder.

“He had to touch the monitor to even believe what had happened in this Knicks game,” Taylor said.