Pacers HC Sends Clear Message on Referees After 2OT Loss to Thunder

Indiana Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle has some thoughts about the team's 141-135 Thursday double overtime defeat to its old NBA Finals rival the Oklahoma City Thunder.

But he's doing his darnedest to tread carefully when it comes to airing out those thoughts in public.

"I'm not talking about the refs," Carlisle said postgame, per Dustin Dopirak of The Indianapolis Star. "If I talk about the refs, I'm going to get fined an exorbitant amount of money."

Historically, this is not untrue. Carlisle, fresh off agreeing to a long-term contract extension with Indiana in August, is understandably striving to hold onto as much of his money as he can — especially with 81 regular season games still on the docket for his Pacers.

An Inconsistent Whistle?

As Dopirak notes, Carlisle attempted to call a timeout, but was ignored by attendant officials — while Thunder coach Mark Daigneault's request for a timeout was permitted. Both these calls, had they gone the other way, could have possibly swung the outcome of the game, Dopirak opines.

Carlisle tried to ask referees for a timeout to demand a replay review of an Aaron Nesmith pass deflection with 29 seconds remaining in the second quarter and Indiana trailing Oklahoma City 49-45. He was disregarded.

At the 22.5-second mark of the contest's second overtime, with the Pacers six points behind the Thunder, Indiana power forward Obi Toppin managed to snag an inbound pass attempt from Thunder big Chet Holmgren meant for MVP point guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander — but referees determined that Daigneault had asked for his own timeout before the Toppin interception, much to the evident chagrin of Carlisle.

That was hardly the only issue. The reigning champion Thunder shot 51 free throws to the Pacers' 40.

"They just kept marching to the free-throw line," Carlisle said. "When that happens, it takes the pace out of the game. It becomes more difficult to get shots. They shot 51 free throws. That's at least 25 times where we're unable to get any tempo going because we're standing there and they're setting their defense up. They did some good things to get to the line, but I'm not going to talk about the refs."

Reigning league and NBA Finals MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander paced the champs with a whopping 55 points, on 15-of-31 shooting from the floor and a stupendous 23-of-26 free throw shooting.