'Small-market teams deserve an equal shot': Pacers Rick Carlisle on officiating vs. Knicks

NEW YORK -- When Rick Carlisle was asked about the illegal screen called against Myles Turner after the Pacers' Game 1 loss to the Knicks, he initially demurred. He didn't even hit back that hard at the kicked ball called against forward Aaron Nesmith, which the officiating crew acknowledged after the game was wrong as Nesmith hit the ball with his hand.

"I don't want to talk about the officiating," Carlisle said Monday night. "We're not expecting to get calls in here."

But on Wednesday night after the Pacers' 130-121 Game 2 loss to the Knicks in which he drew two technical fouls and was ejected in the game's final minute, the first thing he wanted to talk about was the officiating and he did it without prompting. He said he believes that the entirety of the officiating of the first two games shows the Pacers are not getting a fair shake.

Pacers news: Pacers coach Rick Carlisle criticizes refs ejected vs. Knicks

"I'm always talking to our guys about not making it about the officials," Carlisle said. "But we deserve a fair shot. There's not a consistent balance, and that's disappointing. Give New York credit for the physicality that they're playing with. But their physicality is rewarded and ours is penalized. Time after time. I'm just really disappointed."

Carlisle took it a step further by suggesting that the discrepancies he's seeing have to do with where the two teams involved play. New York is obviously the nation's biggest market, while Indianapolis is one of the bottom 10 among NBA cities.

"Small-market teams deserve an equal shot," Carlisle said. "They deserve a fair shot no matter where they're playing."

Carlisle opened his post-game press conference by describing the process by which teams can submit clips of calls they believe were made incorrectly to the league office. He said that the Pacers always evaluate games that they believe were "imbalanced," but noted that during a playoff series when a team submits clips, the other team can see what they submitted.

"There were 29 plays in Game 1 that we thought were clearly called the wrong way," Carlisle said. "I decided not to submit them because I just felt like we'd get a more balanced whistle tonight. It didn't feel that way."

Carlisle in particular called out a play with 5:08 to go in the third quarter when Knicks guard Josh Hart appeared to shove Pacers All-Star guard Tyrese Haliburton in the back while he was running in transition. No foul was called on the play. Notably, Haliburton has been listed as questionable the last three games with lower back spasms.

"The whole world knows that Haliburton has got a bad back," Carlisle said. "Hart comes up and shoves him in the back. It's all over Twitter right now. A few people have showed it to me. (Official) J.B. DeRosa is looking right at it. You can see. He has vision of the play. He (Hart) shoves Ty right into the corner and there's no whistle. Right in the back. That was shocking. There are many others."

Carlisle went off on the officials in the game's final 1:20. Knicks center Isaiah Hartenstein was initially called for a double-dribble with 1:19 left to go in the game, but after Hartenstein and Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau argued against it, the officials conferred and overturned the call. It didn't appear that Hartenstein double dribbled -- it's arguable that he could have been called for carrying but he never appeared to pick the ball up with two hands -- but the Pacers seemed to be particularly perplexed after they were told following the kicked ball against Nesmith that that play could not be reviewed or changed. The officials did not go to replay review on this call either, but they still fixed a call they determined was incorrect.

"The one guy just said he didn't double dribble," Carlisle said. "It looked to me like Tibs went out there and argued it and then they changed it. That's what it looked like. I can only go by what I see, by what I saw."

Carlisle spent much of a timeout at the 41-second mark going after officials while his assistants tried to keep him away, which is when he was called for his first technical foul. He kept going and was called for another with 33 seconds left and ejected.

"The two technicals, you gotta make a stand for your guys," Carlisle said. "You gotta stand up for what's right and what's not right. That was it."

Carlisle said this time he will submit clips to the NBA's league office.

"We're going to submit these tonight," Carlisle said. "New York can get ready. They'll see them too."

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Rick Carlisle on refs: 'Small-market teams deserve an equal shot