After the Pacers’ Game 2 loss to the Knicks on Wednesday night, manager Rick Carlisle made all sorts of complaints about the referees, but believes the head coach himself made a tactical mistake in the loss. This is causing anger from people.
Guard TJ McConnell was ejected with seven minutes left in the fourth quarter and sat on the bench doing nothing, but former top-10 pick Nik Stauskas called it an aggressive attack.
The Pacers, especially guard Andrew Nembhard, struggled to contain Jalen Brunson in McConnell’s absence, and the Knicks pulled away.
“I’m sorry, but if you were the Indiana Pacers, you could never take TJ McConnell out of the game in the fourth quarter, bring in Nembhard and expect to win, right?” Stauskas wrote on his now-deleted Instagram. He said this in a gram story. Reposted by KnicksMuse on X.
“TJ (18 points, 22 minutes, +9 on the floor)…Nembhard (11 points, 29 minutes, -13). Oh yeah, it’s just a coincidence that Brunson scored 16 points with 6 minutes left while Nembhard guarded him. What a joke! It’s an unforgivable mistake by the Pacers coaching staff and if they don’t wake up after some bad film, they’re going to lose their season and their jobs!”
Carlisle’s decision received heavy criticism from fans as well as TNT commentators, and Stan Van Gundy ended the game with McConnell subbed in with 7:10 remaining when the Knicks were leading. Moment, the Pacers noted, “We need to do something different.” , 105-103.
“We’ll see what happens…but Rick Carlisle may have to bring TJ McConnell back later in this quarter after taking some time off to guard Jalen Brunson. It’s been a long time coming for him. It’s the toughest matchup ever,” Van Gundy said. With 6:50 remaining, Brunson beat Nembhard off the dribble for a layup.
On the Knicks’ next possession with 6:14 left and the Knicks leading by two points, Brunson made a 3-pointer under Nembhard’s guard.
“Jalen Brunson destroyed that matchup,” Van Gundy said. “Nembhard is a good defender, but they destroyed that matchup in two games. They’re going to have to do something different here.”
“I noticed that Nembhard wasn’t as into him as McConnell was,” Van Gundy said of his matchup with Brunson. “he [Brunson] I was able to secure some space. ”
Nembhard was then able to step back and take a 3-point shot, but at that point Reggie Miller said this was a trade-off since McConnell doesn’t usually take many shots from deep.
However, McConnell finished with six points, one rebound, and one assist in just five minutes of play in the fourth quarter.
Nembhard didn’t make another shot during the fourth quarter and racked up two more personal fouls and an assist in his seven minutes of action in the fourth quarter.
After the game, Carlisle said, “TJ played some pretty good minutes.”
He believed Nembhard earned the right to close out the game with a strong play against the Bucks’ Damian Lillard in the previous series.
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“I have considered it.” Carlisle told reporters. On the possibility of McConnell ending the game. “But our starters have earned the trust to finish games. Nembhard is probably our best on-ball defender, and we were flying around the traps, too. We ran the kitchen sink a little bit. [Brunson] They got a loose ball, got an offensive rebound and made a shot in the fourth. ”
McConnell had a plus/minus of +10, while no other starter had a number higher than -9.
Nembhard finished with 15 points and four assists on an impressive 7-of-9 shooting.
“When my number is called, I’ll be ready,” McConnell said. “If that means I have to go on the bench to support my teammates, I’m going to do it at the highest level. Rick is a Hall of Fame coach. He’s been in this job for a long time. So I believe we have the right rotation for him. I support him and we all fully support him in the rotation.”
There will be a big question mark in the lineup heading into Friday’s Game 3 in Indianapolis.
