Indiana coach Larry Bird showed up at the Garden yesterday angry that his team hadn’t competed hard in Sunday’s loss at Charlotte. But that paled in comparison with the anger he and the Pacers felt last night, after they played hard enough to beat the Knicks, only to have their win snatched away from them by yet another controversial Garden call.
Larry Johnson’s 3-pointer with 21.7 seconds left was clearly goaltended by Patrick Ewing; but the hoop stood, the Knicks won 83-81, and official Joe Crawford admitted, “I screwed the play up.” The Pacers used other, less-subtle words not fit for even a tabloid.
And still haunted by visions of Johnson’s four-point play in Game 3 of last year’s Eastern Conference Finals, the Pacers feel not only robbed but collectively mugged by the Knicks, the Garden’s gremlins, and a global — OK, at least NBA-wide — plot against small-market clubs like themselves.
“Nothing else is new. They cheated us then, and they cheated us now,” Reggie Miller said, alluding to Johnson’s 3-pointer and foul last year that helped lift the Knicks past Indiana and into the Finals.
“I don’t know if it’s a small-market thing, or what. But we never get the benefit-of-the-doubt calls like the big-market teams. That’s just the way it is. We have to knock them out, and they can just decision us. We should be on even ground, but it’s never that way.
“They can fine you when you say something about officials. I want to know when Joey Crawford and Tommy Nunez and Michael whatever [Smith], when do they get fined? That was an obvious call.
” When you ask, they say they weren’t looking at it, or they were out of position. What else are you looking at when the game’s on the line? Enough is enough.”
Chances are Miller will find out all about those NBA-levied fines. And truth be told, the Pacers had reason to be perturbed.
They led 79-78 when center Rik Smits missed a pair of free throws with 32.8 left. Eleven seconds later, Johnson took his 3 from the right corner. It seemed likely to fall off the front of the rim, until Patrick Ewing soared above the pack and seemingly tipped the ball through the net. Indiana immediately started signaling for offensive goaltending. The officials disagreed.
“It was the same thing as last year, we were up three, they gave ’em four. Tonight we’re up one, they gave ’em three. It’s a tough pill to swallow; it’s frustrating,” said Jalen Rose, who claimed calls like these only happen in the Garden, and says the Pacers will have to beat the Knicks so badly in the Garden that the officials can’t decide the game.
“It’s only here. Hopefully there’s not a black cloud following our team, that we keep coming into this locker room and having controversial stuff happen to our team. It was clear as day, that shot wasn’t going through. When it’s legit, you can live with it. When phantom calls happen, it’s tough to swallow.”
“We’re used to it. It’s happened to us before here,” Bird said.
“We had some chances, but we missed free throws, missed shots, turned the ball over [at the end]. Rik Smits just wasn’t there. He hit just one jump shot in the fourth quarter; I think that’s why I’ve not been playing him in the fourth quarter.
“It’s hard to have a lot of confidence in a guy that dribbles around, and loses the ball, and cannot convert free throws, at least one of them down the stretch. It’s tough to take.”
Like this loss.