Pacers coach Rick Carlisle has a point about NBA officiating but not small-market bias

Indiana Pacers coach Rick Carlisle's frustration erupted.

His team can’t get a victory against the New York Knicks in the Eastern Conference semifinals, can’t get key officiating calls to go their way, and the Knicks Jalen Brunson is doing his best James Harden impersonation to draw fouls that perhaps shouldn’t be called fouls and to create space by initiating contact that maybe should be fouls.

Carlisle unloaded on the officiating after the Knicks took a 2-0 series lead with a 130-121 victory Wednesday. Carlisle was ejected in the fourth quarter, and in his postgame comments, he said he planned to submit plays (78 in total in two games) that were not officiated correctly.

He also made a comment that resulted in a $35,000 fine from the league on Friday: “Small-market teams deserve an equal shot. They deserve a fair shot no matter where they're playing.”

Carlisle has a point and misses the point.

There is not a small-market conspiracy, and Carlisle’s claim is a stale trope. Oklahoma City and Minnesota were a combined 11-0 in the playoffs before Thursday’s games. While not the smallest of markets, Denver won the title last season and Milwaukee won the title in 2021 – and neither would be considered one of the glamour cities.

Adam Silver’s vision of the NBA is agnostic about whom reaches the Finals.

Carlisle's frustration steered him down the wrong road with that comment, and a fine is forthcoming. That’s the price he will pay to get his message out.

And his message: he doesn’t like how the Knicks are officiated. Forget the kicked ball that wasn’t that went against the Pacers late in Game 1 and forget the double-dribble that was called against New York and (rightfully reversed) late in Game 2.

Brunson uses his body to draw fouls and create space, and there is belief that some of that is either illegal or shouldn’t be a foul. It’s likely a topic for NBA head of referee development Monty McCutchen and his staff.

Hunting fouls is an NBA pastime and skill that spawns derision and admiration. Harden perfected it. Now, Brunson only attempted six free throws in Game 2 but he had 14 in Game 1, making all attempts in a 43-point performance. The league doesn’t like when its officials are “tricked” into a call and have gone to great lengths to try and eliminate some of the foul hunting. But players are clever and combine that with a player who is as good as Brunson, it makes officiating difficult.

So Carlisle is doing what he can. In the name of all things Joey Crawford, it’s unlikely that Carlisle and the Pacers are correct on the 78 calls – including 49 from one game – they wanted the league to review via the NBA's Team Inquiry Website. The league will look at the plays and get back to the Knicks and Pacers.

The Athletic’s John Hollinger, a former front-office executive with Memphis, postedon X, formerly Twitter: “You’re not credible saying there were 49 missed calls against you. What Pacers *might* be doing, however, through the NBA’s computerized whining system, is sending in a 'pattern,' which is also a thing you can do rather than just submitting one call – like, hey, maybe these weren’t all fouls but look at these ten similar plays and tell me what's happening here.”

Officiating is often under the spotlight, especially in the playoffs with every possession so important, and reffing complaints are a playoff tradition.

But there are other reasons why a game is won and lost. The Pacers scored 121 points and lost as the Knicks shot 57% from the field and 46.7% on 3-pointers. The Pacers’ potent offense and soft defense are not secrets. It’s who they have been all season and who they are in the playoffs.

Spreading the blame, All-Star guard Tyrese Haliburton said, “We just didn’t play good enough.”

Carlisle is one of the NBA’s best coaches. He made and missed his points about the officiating. Now, he needs to ensure his team plays better with the next two games in Indianapolis.