NEW YORK — Rick Carlisle could no longer keep his cool. The frustration became too much. With 33.9 seconds left in Game 2 of the Indiana Pacers’ second round of the playoffs against the New York Knicks on Wednesday night, he walked over to team leader Marc Davis and started applauding him. It could have been due to a seemingly bad call – one more, at least, from his perspective – or it could have lasted around 96 minutes.
Carlisle kept a running account. He counted 29 calls in the first game that he and the Pacers ruled were incorrect. The NBA has a process for teams to file their complaints with the league, but Carlisle has resisted. He didn’t want to create a trickle-down effect on Game 2. The first game of that Knicks-Pacers series had been so close and close that the referees’ handful of calls in the final minute played an outsized role.
Instead, he hoped that by remaining silent he could achieve a better result on Wednesday.
Carlisle began its postgame press conference with a 2 1/2-minute monologue about the inequality in officiating in these Eastern Conference semifinals. The Knicks beat the Pacers 130-121 in Game 2, suffering another round of injuries, another key player lost and nearly the early exit of Jalen Brunson, their star. And yet, they won.
That put New York two wins away from the conference finals and left the Pacers in a tilt. Carlisle escalated into plotting and complaining. The many problems that engulfed the Pacers that night were left aside in favor of rumors about the referees. On Monday, Carlisle said the refereeing did not cost them the opening match; it was 48 minutes of trouble, not just a few calls in a row. This mask fell after game 2.
“Small market teams deserve an equal opportunity,” Carlisle said. “They deserve a fair chance. It doesn’t matter where they play.
If this was a way to work with referees – an essential for a coach since whistles were made of wood and replays were only available by word of mouth – it was full throttle. Carlisle’s grievances were long and loud.
He decried the shove in the back that his star point guard, Tyrese Haliburton, received midway through the third quarter – at 5:08 to be exact, as Carlisle called out the timestamp – and claimed it was already “all over Twitter”. He praised the Knicks’ physicality and wondered why his Pacers didn’t have the same room to maneuver. He promised to file the missed calls the referees allegedly made in Game 2 with the league office, knowing the Knicks would see through his admonitions.
Rick Carlisle:
“Hart comes in and shoves him in the back. It’s all over Twitter right now because a few people showed it to me. JB DeRosa looks him right in the eye… He shoves Ty right into the corner and there’s nothing there. There was no whistle… It was shocking and there were many others.” pic.twitter.com/HueKW4wqef
– Mike Vorkunov (@MikeVorkunov) May 9, 2024
Carlisle had already announced a protest in the final minutes of the defeat, which resulted in him being sent off after two technicals nine seconds apart. Instead, it was the slow burn before the whining to come.
“I always tell our guys not to talk about the officials, but we deserve a fair chance,” he said. “There is no consistent balance and that is disappointing. So give New York credit for the physicality they play with. But their physicality is rewarded and ours is penalized time and time again. I’m just really disappointed. Just really disappointed. Both techniques, you have to take a stand for your guys.
The misgivings about officiating, fierce as they were, were just a veil for the problems that really impaled the Pacers at Madison Square Garden. They missed another opportunity to steal a game in New York. Haliburton had 34 points and nine assists, but it wasn’t enough. Obi Toppin lost 20 and dominated the Knicks bench single-handedly, and it was a loss. TJ McConnell harassed the Knicks for 10 points and 12 assists and it was to no avail.
The Knicks played the final 15:32 of the first half without Brunson, who went to the locker room with soreness in his right foot. They played the final 15:27 of the game without OG Anunoby as he suffered left hamstring soreness after scoring 28 points. They haven’t had Julius Randle since January. Mitchell Robinson is out for the playoffs. Bojan Bogdanović underwent surgery after the fourth match of the first round.
Yet the Knicks continued to revive; a whole team built with courage and an adamantium skeleton. Brunson scored 29 points, including 24 in the second half. Josh Hart played another 48 minutes and dropped 19 points, 15 rebounds and seven assists. Donte DiVincenzo had 28. The Knicks shot 57 percent from the floor and trailed the Pacers in turnovers and rebounds.
“It’s frustrating to see a six-man rotation and guys playing 40-plus minutes,” McConnell said. “Like I said, we just have to try to continue to make it difficult for them and get them to exert as much energy as possible. But New York is a very good basketball team, very well trained and obviously in great shape.
Indiana, the second-best offense in the NBA this season, was overworked and undermanned. Their 10-point halftime lead disappeared quickly in the third, after being outscored by 10 in the second half of the first game. The Knicks scored 130 points on 91 possessions – the 142.9 offensive rating was their third highest all season – and were trampled. MSG. The Pacers had been playing faster all season, had more depth and better health, but they were the ones wilting again in the second half.
Afterward, it was McConnell who deplored his team’s lack of energy. It seemed almost inconceivable. The Knicks continued to lose rotation players and gain strength. The long minutes were stimulating instead of exhausting. The Pacers failed to follow. Not in transition and not on the boards.
“If we don’t make things a little better, they can continue,” McConnell said. “We just have to be better as a collective, you know, energetically, protecting leads and especially rebounding. You think you’ve put them in a box, and they keep going, and going, and going. We just have to be better.
Now, the Pacers will try to solve their problems at home. Madison Square Garden hadn’t been attractive – even Reggie Miller, in the arena and on the TNT broadcast of Game 2, had caught a few stray animals – but it wasn’t the building that was driving them crazy, it was were the energy-rich Knicks.
Indiana was down 112-110 with 4:35 to play but had no more answers. Carlisle may have lashed out at the refs after the loss, but the Knicks’ four offensive rebounds during that stretch played a bigger role in his misfortune.
That left Indiana searching. The Pacers nearly beat the Knicks in Game 1, winning the half by beating New York in their own game. They stayed close in Game 2 until the fourth quarter, but the Knicks ran them out of New York on their terms.
Haliburton, unlike his head coach, had little acrimony toward officials. Instead, he pointed his fingers inward. He hoped for consistency from the referees, but, more than that, he hoped the Pacers could have played better.
“We felt like we should have won that game,” Haliburton said. “I felt like we should have won the last game. But I feel like the way the playoffs work – this is obviously only my second series – but I feel like once you start going, “Damn, we should have win this game,” it’s going to mess you up in the future. Everything happens for a reason. I don’t really trip. We have to be better in Gam3 and we will be better in Game 3. They always say the playoffs don’t start until the road team wins; we’re going back to Indy and obviously we like our chances there.
(Photo by Rick Carlisle: Elsa/Getty Images)