A controversial moment in the New York Knicks’ dramatic victory over the Indiana Pacers on Monday has divided NBA fans.
The Knicks were fouled for an offensive block late with just seconds remaining in their playoff contest at Madison Square Garden.
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Trailing 118-117, Pacers star Myles Turner attempted a block on Donte DiVincenzo as Tyrese Haliburton looked for the go-ahead run.
Turner applied a solid block to DiVincenzo, who fell backwards onto the court.
The Knicks guard lay on his back as the referees blew the whistle for an illegal moving screen.
Indiana immediately challenged the call, with DiVincenzo accused of failure by some fans at home after going down despite minimal contact.
“The NBA is trying to organize a Knicks-Celtics East final,” fumed one viewer on X.
“It is not possible to reward a player for this kind of obvious flop. Nobody hunts fouls like the Knicks,” added another.
The decision was upheld after an outcry, but TNT analyst Stan Van Gundy praised DiVincenzo for his “acting skills.”
“That’s shocking,” Van Gundy choked in response to the filming.
“You never see that decision at this point in the game. I mean, never.
“This is a great acting job. Lots of great actors here in New York City, you see them on Broadway all the time.
“That’s as good an acting job as you’ll see.”
Some fans went even further and claimed the game was “rigged” in New York’s favor.
“The rigged part is that Turner did it 3 or 4 times the whole game and didn’t get called. The referees basically said it wasn’t a big deal until the Pacers were about to take the lead.
“You can debate if you don’t see that call at those times, but what you can’t debate is that it WAS an illegal screen,” countered another.
“Turner set an illegal screen. How is this BS and rigged if they reviewed it and confirmed it was an illegal screen?” agreed a third.
The Knicks won the contest 121-117 and took a crucial 1-0 lead in the Conference semifinal series.
You never see that call at this point in the game. I mean, never.
Stan Van Gundy
The Pacers fell apart down the stretch, but were hapless with a series of controversial calls.
Aaron Nesmith was whistled for a kicked ball violation with the score tied at 115-115, allowing DiVincenzo to hit a three-pointer moments later.
“I don’t want to talk about the officiating. We don’t expect to get calls here,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said via CBS.
“It would be nice if they gave up, but they didn’t.
“I mean, we challenged it, they reviewed it, there were a lot of people in New Jersey who agreed with them.
“We also need to learn from this. It’s a matter of timing. Both guys are involved. We’ll have to execute this better next time.”
Game 2 of the series is scheduled for Wednesday night in Manhattan before moving to Indiana on Friday.
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This story originally appeared on The-sun.com read the full story
