Indiana Pacers coach Rick Carlisle on Wednesday said that “small-market teams deserve an equal shot” during a complaint about the officiating in his team’s loss to the New York Knicks in their NBA playoff series.
Carlisle was called for two technical fouls and ejected late as his Pacers fell 130-121, putting them in a 2-0 hole in the Eastern Conference semi-finals.
The Pacers found 29 calls they felt were incorrect in their Game 1 loss, but he did not submit them to the NBA, he said.
Photo: AFP
He vowed he would be sending them this time.
“I’m always talking to our guys about not making it about the officials and, but, we deserve a fair shot,” Carlisle said. “There’s not a consistent balance. It’s disappointing.”
Officials acknowledged an incorrectly called kicked ball violation late in Game 1, but the Pacers believed there were plenty other instances of wrong whistles.
“In the playoffs, when you submit things, the other team can see what you submit. And so, there were 29 plays in Game 1 that we thought were clearly called the wrong way. I decided not to submit them because I just felt like we’d get a more balanced whistle tonight,” Carlisle said. “It didn’t feel that way.”
He cited a play in the third quarter where he felt the Knicks’ Josh Hart shoved All-Star point guard Tyrese Haliburton — who has been battling back spasms — in the back.
“It’s all over Twitter [X] right now because a few people have showed it to me and J.B. DeRosa is looking right at it,” Carlisle said. “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, but I can promise you that we are going to submit these tonight. New York can get ready. They can see them, too.”
“Small-market teams deserve an equal shot,” he said.
Haliburton said the Pacers needed to blame themselves, not the officials.
“At the end of the day we got outplayed. We were right there in the game, but I like consistency, yeah,” Haliburton said. “Let’s not pretend, like, that’s the only reason we lost. We just didn’t play good enough, but at the end of the day it’s 2-0.”
Separately, Denver Nuggets star Nikola Jokic was named NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) — his third time winning the award in the past four seasons, a feat that just six other players in league history have accomplished.
He averaged 26.4 points, 12.4 rebounds and 9.0 assists.
Jokic got 79 of a possible 99 first-place votes from the panel of reporters and broadcasters who cast ballots on awards when the regular season ended.
“It’s got to start with your teammates,” Jokic said on TNT, where the award was announced. “Without them, I’m nothing. Without them, I cannot do nothing. Coaches, players, organization, medical staff, development coaches... I cannot be whoever I am without them.”
The Oklahoma City Thunder’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was second and the Dallas Mavericks’ Luka Doncic was third, both getting into the top three of MVP voting for the first time.
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