Tag: Indiana Pacers

Tyrese Haliburton admitted that the refs are not why the Pacers lost to the Knicks in Game 2

Tyrese Haliburton knows there are other reasons why Indiana fell short.

The Pacers lost their second consecutive game to the Knicks in the NBA postseason, but Tyrese Haliburton isn’t blaming the officials.

So far, the series has included several controversial calls that have swayed the results of the games. After the match on Wednesday, Indiana reportedly sent 78 clips complaining about bad calls to the league office.

Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle was ejected from the game and after, he told reporters that small market teams are not getting a fair shake.

While it is frustrating when calls don’t go the way that you want, though, Haliburton knows that there are other reasons why the Pacers are trailing two games to none in the series.

Although he was frustrated and wanted more consistency from the refs, Haliburton was honest about the actual reason Indiana lost the game:

“At the end of the day, we got outplayed … They outplayed us. Let’s not pretend like the refs are the reason we lost. We just got to be better.”

His teammate, TJ McConnell, echoed a similar sentiment during his postgame press conference.

McConnell also said that the locker room doesn’t want to blame officials and that the players on the court simply have to play better.

He said that New York was a better rebounding team and played with more energy during the game.

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The Pacers reportedly sent 78 clips of bad calls vs. Knicks to the NBA offices, which is laughable

Come on, Pacers. This is ridiculous.

OK, so: there have been some calls that went against the Indiana Pacers in their Eastern semifinal playoff series against the New York Knicks, particularly in Game 1. We can admit that, and an official even said out loud that he miscalled the kick ball near the end of Monday’s contest.

But is it a case of referee bias, especially when we saw a double-dribble call in Game 2 get overturned without a video review? That’s what fans are claiming.

It seems like the Pacers are also crying foul. Per ESPN’s Brian Windhorst, the franchise filed a whopping 49 clips of bad calls to the NBA league office from Game 2. They sent 29 from Game 1. That’s 78 CLIPS! COME ON! As if that will suddenly make officials change their minds or the league to whisper to them, “Flip the script.”

LOL!

Josh Hart had a hysterically NSFW message for Reggie Miller after taunts from Knicks fans

That was cold, Madison Square Garden.

New York Knicks fans have a deep rivalry with former Indiana Pacers great Reggie Miller from the 1990s NBA playoffs, and they let the current broadcaster know it on Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden.

As the Knicks and Pacers faced off in the second round of the 2024 Eastern Conference playoffs, the New York crowd noticed that Miller was in attendance and responded accordingly with a very NSFW chant.

Knicks forward Josh Hart actually went over to the broadcast mic and shared in a very funny (also NSFW) exchange with Miller about the New York chants.

We’re sure the television censors really appreciated this, but it was delightful all the same.

Some NSFW language to follow: 

Hey, if you get the entire crowd at MSG to chant at you like that, it’s clear that you found some success there in the past to endear such hating.

We’re sure Miller got a kick out of this, and Hart’s response to it all was just golden. The Knicks getting the win and the 2-0 series lead didn’t hurt for New York fans, either.

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NBA Twitter reacts to Knicks taking 2-0 lead vs. Pacers: ‘Jalen Brunson said Call the ambulance! But not for me!’

Jalen Brunson scored 29 points as the New York Knicks beat the Indiana Pacers 130-121 in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference semifinals. OG Anunoby had 28 points before leaving the game with a hamstring injury while Josh Hart and Donte DiVincenzo …

Jalen Brunson scored 29 points as the New York Knicks beat the Indiana Pacers 130-121 in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference semifinals.

OG Anunoby had 28 points before leaving the game with a hamstring injury while Josh Hart and Donte DiVincenzo combined for 47 points.

Tyrese Haliburton led the Pacers with 31 points and nine assists and Obi Toppin added 20 points off the bench.

Here’s how NBA Twitter reacted to the Knicks victory.

Spike Lee got Reggie Miller to sign some New York newspapers from their infamous Knicks-Pacers feud

Reggie Miller and Spike Lee reuniting during a Knicks-Pacers NBA playoff game is fantastic.

Former Indiana Pacers great Reggie Miller and Oscar-winning filmmaker and New York Knicks superfan Spike Lee reunited on Wednesday night during the 2024 NBA playoffs on much more amicable terms than from a few decades ago.

Recall Miller and Lee’s infamous rivalry from the 1994 NBA Eastern Conference finals, where Lee hilariously taunted Miller from courtside at Madison Square Garden and Miller responded on the court.

Well, there was no hard feelings at all for the two during the Knicks and Pacers’ 2024 second-round Eastern Conference playoff game at MSG, where Miller actually signed Lee’s copies of a few New York newspapers recapping their playoff feud from all those years ago.

That’s pretty cool to see that, after all these years, these two guys can reminisce over such a fun NBA playoff memory in this way. They might want different results from the game, but this is still so much fun.

You can relive their 1994 back-and-forth below. How has it been 30 years?

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Game 1 of Knicks-Pacers ended in controversy with a questionable Myles Turner offensive foul

Was this a foul on Myles Turner?

The New York Knicks earned a 121-117 home playoff victory over the Indiana Pacers on Monday night, but not without some controversy.

Part of New York’s path to the win came with an offensive foul on Pacers star Myles Turner, who made a play on Donte DiVincenzo while trying to block him out and halted the Pacers momentum in an instant.

The call, of course, is controversial depending on how you see it, whether you think Turner made a clean basketball play to help his team or whether you think he made an illegal move on DiVincenzo that justified the foul.

Either way, this year’s Eastern Conference second round already has a big story in this foul, one that helped the Knicks get the 1-0 series advantage.

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NBA Twitter reacts to Knicks taking Game 1 vs. Pacers: ‘Jalen Brunson is in another stratosphere’

Jalen Brunson became the first player to score 40-plus points in four consecutive playoff games since Michael Jordan as the New York Knicks beat the Indiana Pacers 121-117 in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals. Brunson scored 21 of his 43 …

Jalen Brunson became the first player to score 40-plus points in four consecutive playoff games since Michael Jordan as the New York Knicks beat the Indiana Pacers 121-117 in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals.

Brunson scored 21 of his 43 points in the fourth quarter, and Josh Hart and Donte DiVincenzo combined for 49 points. Myles Turner led the Pacers with 23 points but was called for an offensive foul with 12.1 seconds left.

Here’s how NBA Twitter reacted to the Knicks victory.

Photos of Notre Dame alumnus Pat Connaughton in 2024 NBA playoffs

The season is over for Planet Pat.

For the second straight season, the Milwaukee Bucks have been eliminated in the first round of the NBA playoffs. That means Notre Dame alumnus [autotag]Pat Connaughton[/autotag] will have to wait at least another year to see if he can repeat the championship glory he did with the Bucks in 2021.

During the Bucks’ six-game first-round loss to the Indiana Pacers, for which they were without the injured Giannis Antetokounmpo, Connaughton averaged 4.5 points, 3.8 rebounds and 2.2 assists a game. His best contest came when the Bucks held off elimination in Game 5, the second of two straight games missed by Damian Lillard. Connaughton had nine points, four rebounds, four assists, two steals and a block in over 31 minutes.

Connaughton is signed with the Bucks for next season and has a player option for the season after. He’ll hope his play in 2024-25 will be enough to have that option picked up. In the meantime, here are some photos from his play during his brief playoff stay this year:

Bucks’ Pat Connaughton Seemingly Unfazed by Patrick Beverley Drama

It all came undone for the Bucks Thursday night

The Milwaukee Bucks were eliminated by the Indiana Pacers last night in the first round NBA’s Eastern Conference playoffs.  As things were spiraling on the scoreboard for the Bucks, they took an even worse turn on the bench.

Bucks point guard Patrick Beverley was clearly disturbed by the happenings of the game as I’m sure the home crowd Pacers fans were letting him hear it.  He decided to whip a basketball into the stands at a group of fans while having to be restrained by teammates.

A short video of the clip is posted below.  In it be sure to watch former Notre Dame star Pat Connaughton who seemingly could not have cared less about any of the happenings around him.

Connaughton looks like he’d make a spokesman for Southwest Airlines in their next “Want to Get Away?” commercial series.

For what it’s worth, Connaughton averaged 4.5 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 2.2 assists over the six-game series.

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A seemingly frustrated Patrick Beverley chucked a basketball at a Pacers fan in altercation

This is not a good look for Patrick Beverley.

Emotions looked to have gotten the best of Minnesota Bucks guard Patrick Beverley during Thursday night’s first-round road Game 6 against the Indiana Pacers.

With the Bucks down 10 points with about two-and-a-half minutes to go in the game, the game broadcast shows Beverley chuck a basketball at a Pacers fan in the stands, seemingly in frustration.

While we’re not sure exactly what prompted Beverley to engage with a fan in such a forceful way, there is no world where the league doesn’t respond swifty to one of its players seemingly getting aggressive with a spectator.

Additional context will be key to understanding what exactly we’re watching, but the optics aren’t great for Beverley and Milwaukee in the slightest.

Of course, it’s also possible the fan in question might also suffer some sort of consequence if they provoked Beverley in a way that violates spectator conduct policies.

The Bucks’ season ended with a 120-98 loss in Game 6 and a 4-2 series loss overall, so any possible response against Beverley from the league will likely impact the start to next season.

For now, we’ll have to see exactly what caused this and what the league decides to do about it.

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