INDIANA – Pacers coach Rick Carlisle was fined $35,000 by the NBA on Friday morning for “questioning the integrity of the league and its officials and criticizing referees.”
The fine was announced by Joe Dumars, the league’s executive vice president and director of basketball operations.
Carlisle was lighter in the wallet Wednesday night after he lit up the referees after Indiana’s 130-121 loss to the Knicks in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference semifinals at the Garden.
“Small market teams deserve an equal chance. They deserve a fair chance…no matter where they play,” Carlisle said after the loss. He said that while ignoring success, and perhaps the success of Minnesota and defending Western Conference champion Denver.
Of course, Carlisle’s mission, and the Pacers’ plan to submit 78 potentially unfavorable calls to NBA secretariat for Games 1 and 2, is actually based on the rest of the game, starting with Friday night’s Game 3. It was to set the stage for the series.
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“We deserve a fair judgement, and that’s not the case. It’s not consistently balanced,” Carlisle said. “And that’s a shame. So let’s give credit to the physicality with which New York is playing. But their physicality is rewarded and our physicality is punished many times.”
Once the series moves to Indiana, the Pacers trail the series 0-2.
