Pacers Coach Rick Carlisle Criticizes Officiating After Game 2 Loss to Knicks

Rick Carlisle unveiled earlier that the Pacers resisted filing complaints about the referee calls after Game 1. Thereafter, they had a change of minds after the second encounter. The Pacers backed up their claims with 78 assertions, which draws the NBA’s attention to such cases where the calls were wrong. This choice would be due to the team’s conviction that the errors in the officiating have unfairly influenced their two losses.

The awareness of the perceived disparities in officiating is reflected in the submission of 78 plays by the Pacers to the NBA, especially on how it is done on the court to deal with physical issues. He highlighted that that the reason the referees blow their whistles against the Pacers more often than Knicks’ is because of the “physical” game of the former team. Nonetheless, the Pacers were convinced refs had given the Knicks favors on the play.

Even though the free throw margin between the Pacers and the Knicks was slightly good in Game 2, the refereeing issues still mattered to the Pacers and had an impact on the game outcome. Even being out by injuries for both teams, the Pacers had not gotten the best of the opportunities to make up the loss. That is why, during the game, Edwards continued to verbalize officiating, which was connected with his disappointment from his loss in the first game, in which officiating was not fair.

As the ongoing series tipped off with Game 3 in Indiana, the Pacers have placed the officiating on their priority list to ensure that all sides can play fairly. Furthermore, despite encountering setbacks along the way, the team keeps motivated to give their ultimate knowledge and conquer the upcoming obstacles to assert dominance in the series.