The New Orleans Pelicans on Saturday had yet another bizarre mishap amid their already unusual season.
The Pelicans led the New York Knicks 46-41 with about four minutes left in the first half at Smoothie King Center in New Orleans, La. After a CJ McCollum miss, the ball was tapped out of bounds off Pelicans wing Brandon Boston Jr. and ruled Knicks ball.
The home crowd reacted as if the refs had gotten the call wrong. Knicks guard Jalen Brunson tried to inbound the ball before the Pelicans could even consider challenging the ruling. But Brunson was delayed by two Pelicans towel guys who ran onto the court to wipe sweat off the floor.
Brunson protested the move. The Knicks star eventually got his way as the referees issued a technical foul against the Pelicans towel guys for delaying the game.
Pelicans towel guy just got T’d up pic.twitter.com/kWMOc4Dg3F
— Rob Perez (@WorldWideWob) December 22, 2024
Brunson converted on the technical free throw to trim the Knicks’ deficit to 46-42.
Based on Boston’s reaction to the initial out of bounds call, the Pelicans forward appeared to object about a missed foul call rather than a wrong out of bounds call. New Orleans head coach Willie Green did not appear intent on asking for a challenge either.
But the Knicks clearly did not want to give the Pelicans even a chance to challenge the play. Brunson knew that inbounding the basketball would have negated the possibility of a coach’s challenge outright.
The Pelicans’ peculiar penalty had fans on X in disbelief.
Have you ever seen the towel boy get a technical foul? That just happened to the Pelicans… insane
— Sideline Sources (@sidelinesources) December 22, 2024
Wait … did the Pelicans just get a tech for the ball boy wiping up sweat!?!?!
I've never seen that in a decade covering this league lmao
— James L. Edwards III (@JLEdwardsIII) December 22, 2024
The moment felt like par for the course for Pelicans fans given the way the team’s season has gone. New Orleans isn’t beating the allegations that its team is cursed any time soon.
