The Indiana Pacers saw Game 1 slip away against the New York Knicks on Monday night, in part due to a controversial illegal screen call that was whistled against Myles Turner with 12 seconds left in the game and Indiana trailing by one point.
Turner set a screen on Donte DiVincenzo, who sold the contact and was rewarded with the call from officials. The Pacers challenged but were unsuccessful.
After the game, Rick Carlisle couldn’t hide his frustration with the decision from the referees, saying that Indiana wasn’t “expecting to get calls” in New York.
“I don’t want to talk about the officiating. We’re not expecting to get calls in here,” Carlisle said. “It would’ve been nice if they’d laid off that one, but they didn’t. That’s just the way it goes.
“We challenged it, they reviewed it. They got a bunch of people in New Jersey that agreed with them, so, that’s just the way it goes.”
A technical foul against Andrew Nembhard saw Jalen Brunson make it a two-point game at the line, and he soon tacked on an additional two points on the ensuing possession. New York held on to win, 121–117.
Carlisle was clearly not thrilled with the officials for refusing to look the other way on Turner’s illegal screen given the circumstances, but maintained that the team would simply need to learn from the situation.
Game 2 of the Eastern Conference semifinals is set for Wednesday at Madison Square Garden, with tip-off coming at 8:00 p.m. ET.
