What are the 78 complaints that Pacers have made about the Knicks games?
Regardless of how you feel, the Pacers have very good reasons to feel frustrated about their current position. In fact, they’ve got 78 of them.
Following yet another contentious game between the Pacers and the Knicks, it’s now clear that any series between these bitter rivals will never be a quiet affair. Now halfway on the road to a sweep, the Pacers have made it clear they aren’t happy with the way calls have been made, but do they have a point?
The Pacers list 78 questionable calls
As you probably know the Indiana Pacers suffered a 130-121 loss against the New York Knicks on Wednesday night. The loss dropped the Pacers to 2-0 in their Eastern Conference semifinal series and effectively put their season on the brink of a disastrous end. Yet, what’s interesting to note is that the Pacers have taken a step that we don’t often see in the NBA which is to place the blame squarely on the shoulders of the league’s officiation. You may recall our previous report which followed the team’s loss in Game 1, one which saw a number of calls that begged a question at the least.
This brings us back to Wednesday night’s loss, which proved too much for Pacers coach Rick Carlisle to stomach. Indeed, Carlisle didn’t hold back when speaking about the refereeing after the game, a notion that has since been reinforced by the fact that the Pacers have filed a formal complaint against the league itself, citing 78 different plays where they believed a call was made incorrectly in both Game 1 and 2. According to reports, 49 of those resulted from plays in Game 2. “After Game 1, We always go through the film in games where it felt like the whistles weren’t balanced and we pull the clips, and there’s a way you can submit them to the NBA office,” Carlisle said. “In the playoffs when you submit things, the other team sees 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, you know, we’d get a more balanced whistle tonight. It didn’t feel that way.”
It’s worth noting that Carlisle himself was ejected in the final minute of Wednesday night’s loss, which wasn’t surprising when considering the obvious frustration that has been described. The 64-year-old coach left no doubt about where he stood when speaking on how the night went. “I can promise you that we’re going to submit these tonight,” Carlisle bitterly quipped during media availability. “New York can get ready. They’ll see ‘em too. I’m always talking to our guys about not making it about the officials, but we deserve a fair shot. Small-market teams deserve an equal shot. They deserve a fair shot no matter where they’re playing.” While we won’t go the road of delving into what Carlisle is implying, it’s hard to imagine that we won’t see some kind of difference in the officiating when Game 3 rolls around on Friday night. Keep an eye on this one.