The Pacers had two tough calls go against them in the final minute of Game 1, but coach Rick Carlisle refused to blame the officials for the loss, writes Eric Nehm of The Athletic. The first came with 52 seconds remaining when Aaron Nesmith was called for a kicked ball violation, even though the ball appeared to hit his hand rather than his foot. The other one happened when Myles Turner was whistled for a moving screen with 18.4 seconds left to play. Carlisle challenged the call, but the replay crew upheld it and that decision was confirmed in the Last Two Minute report.
“There’s so many events in an NBA game,” Carlisle said. “They’re always a sharp focus on the last minute, but there were things that happened with five or six minutes left that really hurt us. We had one play where one of our guys took a wild run to try to gamble and steal the ball, and it turned into a four-point play for them. I think we had a five-point lead at the time, and so, it’s not just the last minute or two. It’s a whole game. The whole fourth quarter. So this is a great experience for our guys. It comes at a cost. It’s so fun. But we’re gonna have to learn some things for Game 2.”
With the series resuming tonight, Nehm states that Indiana will need improved play down the stretch from Tyrese Haliburton and more attention toward keeping Josh Hart off the boards and the free throw line. Hart collected 13 rebounds in the opener and scored 10 of his 24 points in transition.
“He’s probably one of the best rebounder wings in the league, if not the best rebounding wing in the league,” Haliburton said. “You got to match his intensity there when he’s crashing. He was getting downhill, getting to the free throw yesterday. And then just in transition, when he gets the ball, I think everybody in the world knows he’s going left to right, Euro step. Still, he gets to it.”
There’s more from the Central Division:
- Speaking to reporters before tonight’s game, Carlisle talked about how difficult it was to coach against Pacers guard T.J. McConnell before they joined forces, tweets Dustin Dopirak of The Indianapolis Star. Carlisle recalled a game in which his Dallas team turned the ball over 16 times in the first half against McConnell’s Sixers. “To me, he was always such an effective player,” Carlisle said. “… He was just an enormous annoyance when you’re trying to play them.”
- Bulls forward Patrick Williams turned down a four-year extension offer worth about $64MM before the start of the 2023/24 season, sources tell K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago. Johnson adds that Williams, who is headed toward restricted free agency, is expected to make a full recovery well before training camp after having surgery on his left foot in February.
- It has been more than three weeks since the Pistons announced that they plan to hire a new head of basketball operations, but there have been no reports of any interviews in that time, Keith Langlois of NBA.com notes in a mailbag column. Langlois expects the interview process to get underway soon so that draft preparation can begin in earnest.
Williams is dumb. He should’ve taken the extension. He’s definitely not worth that much now
Don’t consider Williams dumb. How was Williams to know that he would end up getting hurt and that his season wouldn’t be so good? Hope the Bulls make Williams the qualifying offer and see what happens. Worked well when the Bulls signed LaVine to a four year deal for just $78 million in 2018.
I’m glad he said no. He’s not worth it and would have been another horrible contract to deal with. Like they don’t have enough already. Trade him for whatever you can get. Just not another conditional 1st round pick. I’ll be dead before they ever see that Portland pick.
Cannot fault him for asking for more. The Bulls just had a guy would likely will never play for them again (unless he wants to get moved to another team for some reason) get his 21.4 mil. Poor contracts again from this Bulls team. Im a bit surprised more players do not come to the Bulls to make a colossal amount of money then have injuries where they sit on a bench (if even at the game) and collect their checks. (Sorry, but you really have to wonder how injured Ball really was).
Combine that with trying to move Vuk and his bloated contract (likely for nothing or another bloated contract) instead of just letting him go away last season is another example of horrible management by this org. Common factor? Same ownership mentality. Apparently the apple does not fall far from the tree after all. VUk, like the others, don’t really want to go, they want to stay, be mediocre and collect their checks, like the other Reinsdorf led team in Chicago. You know who the guys are that want to win as they do not come to the Bulls, they, and their agents, see it a mile away.