Pacers coach Carlisle wants `fair shot' from officials
NEW YORK The Indiana Pace rs have, as coach Rick Carlisle said they would, sent 78 plays they believe were officiated incorrectly from the first two games of their series against the New York Knicks to the NBA office for review, a person with knowledge of the action said Thursday.
“I'm always talking to our guys about not making it about the officials,” Carlisle said after Game 2 on Wednesday, a 130-121 win for New York that gave the Knicks a 2-0 lead in the Eastern Conference semifinal series.
“We deserve a fair shot. There's not a consistent balance and that's disappointing. Give New York credit for the physicality that they're playing with. But their physicality is rewarded and ours is penalized, time after time.”
Carlisle said the Pacers identified 29 plays from Game 1 that they had issue with, but he decided against sending those clips to the league office because he believed “we'd get a more balanced whistle” in Game 2. “It didn't feel that way,” Carlisle said.
Among the issues Carlisle discussed openly after Game 2: What he said was an uncalled shove by New York's Josh Hart into the back of Indiana star Tyrese Haliburton, who has been playing through a back injury, along with a double-dribble call against Knicks centre Isaiah Hartenstein with 1:19 left that was changed to an inadvertent whistle. New York kept possession on that play and held the ball for 38 more seconds, thanks in part to two offensive rebounds. Jalen Brunson scored with 41.9 seconds left to push New York's lead to eight, and Carlisle was ejected moments later for arguing.
On the Haliburton play, Carlisle said: “(Referee) JB DeRosa is looking right at it. You can see he has vision of the play and he shoves Tyrese into the corner and there is no whistle. Right in the back. That was shocking and there were many others.”
The league is based in New York, which is also the country's largest media market, according to Nielsen. Among current NBA cities, Indianapolis plays in the league's 23rd-largest market.
The series shifts to Indiana for Game 3 on Friday.
“Small-market deserve an equal shot,” Carlisle said after Game 2. “They deserve a fair shot, no matter where they're playing.”