New York's Allonzo Trier was called for goal-tending with less than one second remaining as the Washington Wizards rallied from 16 points down to defeat the Knicks 101-100 at the O2 Arena in London.
Trailing 100-99, the Wizards inbounded with 3.3 seconds left and Thomas Bryant drove the lane. His floater was deflected with less than one second remaining.
The trail official made the goal-tending call, and after a review of several minutes the call stood.
New York inbounded with four-tenths of a second remaining on the clock, and Emmanuel Mudiay's shot was off the mark.
Bradley Beal led the Wizards with 26 points and Otto Porter Jr had 20 points and 11 rebounds.
Mudiay had 25 points on 11 of 18 shooting for the Knicks, who have lost five straight, and Noah Vonleh had 13 points and 10 rebounds.
The Knicks were without their leading rebounder and third-leading scorer, Enes Kanter, who stayed in the US because of worries about his safety following his criticism of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
This week, Turkish prosecutors announced they were seeking an international arrest warrant for Kanter, accusing him of belonging to a terror organisation.
The Wizards cut a 10-point half-time deficit to six early in third quarter, but the Knicks responded and led 83-67 after Mudiay's dunk with 4:25 left in the quarter.
Washington trailed 89-79 early in the fourth but pulled within 91-90 on Beal's 33-foot three-pointer with 6:11 left.
Porter gave Washington a three-point lead with 3:30 remaining on his tip-in.
Beal's three-point play later made it 97-93 with 1:53 remaining.
New York got a Vonleh hook followed by a Mudiay three-pointer to take a 98-97 lead with 1:05 to play.
After Trevor Ariza and Vonleh traded baskets, Beal missed and New York's Kevin Knox missed, setting up the final Wizards' possession.
In the first half, New York converted 9-of-18 three-point attempts while the Wizards managed just 4-of-15.
The Knicks took their largest lead of the half, 53-34, when Tim Hardaway Jr's three-pointer capped a 9-0 run with 5:24 left in the second quarter.
Washington rallied to within eight before the Knicks took a 63-53 lead into intermission.