NEW YORK – After the game was over, Rick Carlisle retreated to the Indiana Pacers locker room and observed everything. The last four minutes of the first game, as painful as they were, were worth watching again.
It was a tough show for the Pacers the first time around. A lead has escaped. A number of careless errors. A last-minute disaster. The questionable calls from officials that marred a team that was already trying to avoid free fall. Everything happened in such a short time.
But the Pacers coach has it all figured out again. Indiana lost Game 1 to the New York Knicks 121-117 at Madison Square Garden and with it, a golden opportunity to take control of the series, despite a poor performance from All-Star Tyrese Haliburton and a wave of adverse calls in the last 52 games. seconds.
The Pacers did their best to avoid placing blame on themselves and the officials after the game. They had their merits. Indiana may have played a sloppy final stanza, but a series of calls did it no favors: an improper punted ball violation on Aaron Nesmith with 52 seconds left; an illegal screen by Myles Turner with 12.7 seconds remaining that floored Donte DiVincenzo and held up after a replay review; a foul on Andrew Nembhard before a single tick disappeared from the clock and the Knicks could inbound the ball. The latter practically iced the game as Jalen Brunson made a free throw and the Knicks retained possession.
“I think it’s best for the players to decide the outcome of the game,” Turner said. “I think it’s unfortunate that this happened. We looked at it; they always called it an illegal screen. But it’s the playoffs, man. I feel like DiVincenzo did a good job selling it. For the most part, you can’t let the game be decided by the referees. We must therefore also assume our responsibilities. Of course, it’s right after the game, I’m a little fresh in my emotions about it, but we know that ultimately we can’t get to this position.
“The Last Two Minute report, we are all looking forward to its release. I think there were two controversial calls. We had to use our challenge on a call on Tyrese. And then Aaron Nesmith’s kickball that wasn’t a kickball – you can see that clearly on the replay.
The choppy final minute overshadowed a scintillating game in which Haliburton struggled, scoring just six points on six shots while playing through a back injury, so the Pacers looked elsewhere for a shock. Pascal Siakam had 19 points and TJ McConnell came off the bench for 18. Turner had 23 points and provided vital rim protection. After toppling the Milwaukee Bucks in the first round and benefiting from injuries to Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard, the Pacers also looked poised to upset the Knicks.
It was supposed to be a matchup between two disparate styles, the fun and fast Pacers and the deliberate and physical Knicks. Instead, Indiana led throughout the first half turning the game around and beating New York in its own game. The Pacers dominated the boards, matched the pugnacity of the Knicks and sometimes intimidated them. That was enough to lead by six points at halftime.
Although the Knicks rebounded in the second half, the Pacers kept pace. The teams traded points late in the fourth quarter and entered the final minute tied. Then everything went downhill for Indiana.
Nesmith was called for that kickball, negating what was about to lead to a Knicks turnover and open-court opportunity. Instead, officials said the ball hit Nesmith’s leg. After the game, crew chief Zach Zarba told a pool reporter that the call was wrong and the ball hit Nesmith’s right hand. DiVincenzo hit a 3 on the ensuing possession to give New York a 118-115 lead that Indiana couldn’t overcome.
Referee Zach Zarba told the pool reporter that the call for a punted ball violation with 52 seconds left was incorrect and instead hit Aaron Nesmith’s hand. But the appeal was not reviewable. pic.twitter.com/9rlYvF0VXc
– Mike Vorkunov (@MikeVorkunov) May 7, 2024
After the match, even knowing Zarba had admitted a mistake, McConnell couldn’t say the right decision could have turned the night around.
“I’m not sure,” he said. “There are plays we could have made and it doesn’t even come down to that. It’s a shame, but we had to move on and fix the things we didn’t do well.
With the Knicks leading 118-117, Brunson lost the ball out of bounds near his own basket with 22.1 seconds remaining while attempting to dribble up the court against Nembhard’s pressing defense. The Knicks contested and the decision was overturned.
With Indiana still down a point on the next possession, Turner was called for the offensive foul while trying to screen Haliburton just above the 3-point line. The Pacers looked into it but saw the call upheld. That cost Indiana its final timeout.
“I don’t want to talk about the officiating,” Carlisle said. “We don’t expect to get any calls here. It would be nice if they fired that one, but they didn’t. That’s how it happens. We challenged it. They revised. There are a lot of people in New Jersey who agree with them, so that’s how it goes. We must also learn from it. It’s a question of timing. Both guys are involved. We’ll have to execute this better next time.
As the Knicks tried to get the ball back from center field, Nembhard was called for a foul before any pass after sliding his right hand around Brunson’s torso. That sent Brunson to the free throw line and allowed the Knicks to maintain possession. There wasn’t much Indiana could do after that.
The cacophony of errors led to a difficult defeat. The Pacers played like the better team for much of the night, even with Haliburton trailing. They came into MSG and hustled the Knicks for long stretches. But they hadn’t prepared for the recriminations to come. Josh Hart played all 48 minutes and hit the court like a torpedo at times, scoring 24 points and grabbing 13 rebounds. Brunson scored 43 points and served as ballast.
The Pacers didn’t have such an anchor late in the game. Now they will have to adapt to the rigors of what will surely be a brutally difficult series. The Knicks leave their opponents battered and bruised; the Philadelphia 76ers can tell stories from home. The Pacers managed to cut them in half and will have to find a way to replicate it again, pushing the Knicks shorthanded with their nine-deep rotation and preference for playing fast and trying to punish an enemy short of depth. It worked for a while on Monday, before it all fell apart.
It was an education for a young team still new to such experiences. Siakam won a title with the Toronto Raptors and McConnell had played in a few playoff games in previous years, but this is the first playoff run for the core of Indiana’s roster. Haliburton makes its first appearance in the playoffs. The first-round victory over the Bucks was the first playoff series Turner had won in his nine-year career.
“There’s so much going on in an NBA game,” Carlisle said. “They are always focused on the last minute, but there were things that happened with five or six minutes to go that really hurt us. We had a play where one of our guys made a mad dash to try to make a play and steal the ball, and it turned into a four-point play for them. I think we were five points ahead at that point, and so it’s not just the last minute or two. It’s a whole game. The whole fourth quarter. So it’s a great experience for our guys. This has a cost. It’s so much fun. But we’re going to have to learn some things for Game 2.”
(Rick Carlisle Photo: Sarah Stier/Getty Images)