‘Shocked’ Rick Carlisle puts refs on blast for no-call in Pacers’ loss to Mavericks: ‘Clearly a foul’ appeared first on ClutchPoints. Add ClutchPoints as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
The Indiana Pacers have, once again, been ravaged by the injury bug. They entered play on Monday against the Dallas Mavericks with a 3-7 record, as they have struggled to string together wins amid Tyrese Haliburton’s absence due to a hamstring issue. Considering how competitive the Eastern Conference playoff picture can be, any win at this juncture matters for the Pacers so that they don’t fall off the pace with their best player on the shelf.
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However, the Pacers suffered a 125-122 loss to a Mavericks team that was on the second night of a back-to-back — with Indiana getting the short end of the officiating stick towards the dying embers of the contest.
After PJ Washington missed two free throws to keep Indiana within a single possession, Indiana drew up a play for Pascal Siakam off the inbounds. However, Dallas picked off the pass, but Caleb Martin collided with the Pacers forward as well.
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Alas, the officials swallowed their whistle, and Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle wasn’t pleased at all with this no-call. He even likened Martin’s hit on Siakam to a football-esque collision.
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“It’s a football caliber collision and it’s clearly a foul. I’m at a loss for what was being looked at. Then you ask and the responses are just shocking. That whistle needs to blow. It almost looks like targeting a defenseless player in a football game. I’m shocked. It happened right in front of me and the official and they may have been intentionally fouling,” Carlisle said in his postgame presser, via Oh No He Didn’t on X.
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The Pacers were down by three, 125-122, at that point of the alleged foul on Siakam, and they were in the bonus. They would have at least had the chance to make the first free throw, intentionally miss the second one, and try for a game-tying shot to force overtime.
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There were no guarantees that Indiana would have pulled off a miracle. But Carlisle wanted his team to at least have gotten the opportunity to do so, and he feels robbed that they didn’t.
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Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: Sports.yahoo.com
