Taj Gibson got physical with Chris Paul and the Knicks paid the price.
Midway through the fourth quarter, Paul tried to block out Gibson on a rebound, and maybe Gibson felt undercut, but coming back up the floor Gibson took a cheap foul, elbowing Paul to the ground. CP3 bounced up, walked away from Gibson, and barked at Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau at first.
CP3 wasn’t having it after this hard foul by Taj Gibson 😳
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) May 8, 2021
Gibson was called for a flagrant 1 pic.twitter.com/ZfESNT5WkI
Gibson received a Flagrant 1 for the play.
Chris Paul on what happened with him and Taj Gibson: "Some things were said. It is what it is in the heat of the game." Said it's all love and they talked after the game
— Gerald Bourguet (@GeraldBourguet) May 8, 2021
Paul responded by scoring seven points in the next two minutes and helping the Suns pull away from the Knicks for a 128-105 win.
The loss reduced the Knicks lead over the Hawks for the four seed in the East to just half a game, one up in the loss column. The sixth seed Heat are one game back of the Knicks and the seven seed Celtics just two.
The Suns win kept them one game back of the Jazz for the best record in the West (and the NBA).