NEW YORK -- According to the NBA's Last Two Minute Report for Game 1 of the New York Knicks' second-round series against the Indiana Pacers, the kicked ball violation called against Pacers wing Aaron Nesmith with 52 seconds left in the fourth quarter was an incorrect call. Additionally, the offensive foul called against Indiana center Myles Turner was deemed to be a correct call.
Neither of these findings should be seen as surprising. After New York's 121-117 win on Monday, crew chief Zach Zarba told a pool reporter that, upon reviewing the kicked ball post-game, it was evident that the ball "hit the defender's hand, which would be legal." Immediately after the foul on Turner was called, it was challenged, reviewed and upheld. According to the L2M report, the big man turns into the path of Knicks wing Donte DiVincenzo and "does not give him time and distance to change direction prior to the illegal contact."
After the loss, Turner said that the team was "looking forward" to this report. He added that, while the Pacers shouldn't "look too much into the two minute report," he anticipated that there would be "some glaring things in it."
Here is a complete list of the calls and non-calls in the final two minutes identified by the league as incorrect:
- 1:19: On a possession that ended with Knicks star Jalen Brunson making a game-tying jumper over Andrew Nembhard, Turner should have been called for a three-second violation.
- 0:53.6: Just prior to the (incorrect) kicked ball violation, DiVincenzo should have been called for an offensive foul against Nesmith, as he "clamps his arm and prevents him from disengaging."
- 0:52: With the score tied and Indiana starting a fast break, Nesmith should not have been called for a kicked ball violation. As noted in the L2M report, this call cannot be challenged.
- 0:10.7: On Indiana's last offensive possession, down by four points, Turner should have been called for another offensive foul a few seconds before Haliburton turned the ball over, as the big man "extends" into DiVincenzo's path and "delivers contact with his side during the screen."
None of this will likely satisfy any Pacers fan (or player) who was upset at the officiating in crunch time. Indiana coach Rick Carlislie, however, said both postgame and after practice at the National Basketball Players Association's office the following day that the team needed to focus on the things it could have done better throughout the entire game, not the calls that were made near the end.
"There's a lot of events that didn't happen in the last minute of the game, that didn't get the limelight of the analysis of everyone in the media, in the basketball world, that were things we could have done better," Carlisle said Tuesday. "So our game is a 48-minute game, it's not a two-minute game. The things in the first, second and third quarter that happen -- that are good or bad -- matter in the result. We're an accumulation of our habits, and so our habits got to be good from start to finish."
