Egregious officiating and Haliburton's disappearance conspire to make the Pacers a Game One loser against the Knicks

That Last 2-Minutes Report can't come fast enough. Like it will make any difference...

A COFFEE SHOP IN CARMEL, Ind. – So it’s the morning after the Pacers got screwed by some egregious officiating down the stretch, and I’m waiting on the Last 2 Minute Report. Not that the report is going to change anything – the Knicks won and have a one game to nothing lead in what figures to be a long and epic Knicks-Pacers series, and let’s be honest: We know what the report is going to say. The officials blew it. Blew it a couple of times, fueling the usual conspiracy theories that the league wants the big-market Knicks in the Eastern Conference Finals while the Pacers head to Cancun. I don’t believe in conspiracy theories, but if your mind tends to work that way, I can certainly see how it confirms your worst suspicions.

First, and this was addressed Monday night in the post-game pool report, we know the officials missed Aaron Nesmith’s deflection with his hand with 51.2 seconds remaining in a tie game, ruling it a kick ball – which, for some reason, is currently not a reviewable play (although I would imagine it will be reviewable next year and beyond). Zach Zarba, the official who spoke to the pool reporter, acknowledged his crew missed that one, and if we’re going to extend just a little bit of grace, it was a bang-bang play and a tough call in the heat of the moment. But it took away an impending 4-on-2 Pacers break and gave the ball back to the Knicks, who took advantage of a Pacers’ defensive breakdown and got a a 3-point basket from Donte DiVincenzo.

A five-point play, essentially.

“On the floor, we felt that would be a kicked ball violation. Post-game review did show that it hit the defender’s hand, which would be legal,” Zarba told the pool reporter. “…A kicked ball violation is not reviewable and not subject to the coach’s challenge. The three things that teams can challenge are fouls, goaltends and out of bounds.”

OK, fine. They missed it. Fog of competition, and all that. Stuff happens.

But the one that has everybody around here feeling a little bit sick to their stomachs came with the Pacers trailing by one point, Tyrese Haliburton dribbling the ball up court for a final possession, Myles Turner setting the kind of screen he sets about a hundred times a game, barely moving as DiVincenzo gave a Tony Award-level flop to draw the call. It wasn’t Larry Johnson’s 4-point play, but it was close.

This is not one of those situations where you call for the officials to swallow their whistles in the final seconds. A foul early is a foul late and vice versa. But this wasn’t a foul. It wasn’t a foul in any league. At any time. If Turner moved, and I don’t think he did, it was almost imperceptible. The whistle blew. The Knicks took possession.

A few foul shots later, New York had a 121-117 victory in Game One and damn, that 2-Minute Report can’t come fast enough. (I’ll update later when it crosses my desk.)

How did Turner’s illegal screen hold up under review when Jalen Brunson’s rugby tackle of Turner earlier in the game get overturned when the Knicks challenged the clear foul on Brunson? Can anybody explain? Because I can’t.

But back to the illegal screen…

“Just in my experience in this league, I think it’s best when the players decide the outcome of the game,” Turner said. “I think it’s unfortunate that it happened. We reviewed it and they still called it an illegal screen, but it’s the playoffs, man. DiVincenzo did a great job of selling it.

“…You can’t leave the game to be decided by the refs. We have to take accountability as well. We know at the end of the day we can’t get into that position.”