Rick Carlisle blasts the officiating
“I’m always to talking to our guys about not making it about the officials. But, we deserve a fair shot. There’s not a consistent balance and that’s disappointing. Give New York credit for the physicality that they are playing with. But, their physicality is rewarded and ours is penalized time after time. I’m just really disappointed,” the Pacers head honcho said.
This is not the first time members of the Pacers faithful outlined their dismay at the way the NBA Playoffs are being officiated. The last two-minute report in Game 1 had four crucial errors which could have swung the momentum of the series towards the Pacers if they were called correctly. Now, the same story might unfold in Game 2 against Jalen Brunson’s Knicks given how tight the clash between both teams was during crunch time.
Overall, the Pacers were given 17 fouls throughout the course of this NBA Playoffs game. The disparity is not that large to the Knicks’ 14 but the timing of when they were called clearly cut off some momentum from the Tyrese Haliburton-led squad.
The difference in calls was mostly the same when compared to Game 1. The Pacers got 22 fouls assessed on them. Some were deemed incorrect non-calls and others were labeled as incorrect calls at the end of the clash. On the other hand, the Knicks only got 19 fouls called against them.
Pacers blow a significant lead
Pace and space is the name of the game in the modern NBA. No matter how insurmountable the lead is heading into halftime any team is capable of shooting and running themselves back into a game. This is exactly what the Pacers had to learn, albeit in the hard way. They were up 10 points before the third quarter started and everything crumbled. The Knicks led by Jalen Brunson managed to find a lot of holes in their defense. They scored 36 points in just 12 minutes off of these lapses. Meanwhile, the Pacers could not get anything going and were stuck at 18 points.
This amount of offensive production was clearly not enough to win the NBA Playoffs clash. Furthermore, Coach Rick Carlisle’s squad really needs another 20-point per-game scorer. While Obi Toppin and Tyrese Haliburton combined for 54 points, no one else managed to score 20 points for their squad. There were six Pacers who got double-digit scoring numbers but that clearly was not going to cut it.
The Pacers are going to play the Knicks on their home floor next. Hopefully, the time before the clash and the crowd make it so that they get a win in this NBA Playoffs series. If they get one, the momentum might start to shift in their favor.
