The NBA has a consistency problem with the way it officiates playoff games

The NBA has undoubtedly shown more physical basketball since the All-Star break.

In March, the league admitted that at some point in the season new refereeing priorities impacted the flood of goals that had occurred up to that point in the 2023-24 season.

So it seems fitting that this rougher version eventually led us to another playoff series between the Indiana Pacers and the New York Knicks.

Suddenly it feels like we're back in the 1990s. Reggie Miller, Rik Smits, Patrick Ewing and John Starks no longer wear the jerseys, but orange and blue vs. blue and gold looks familiar.

And the overwhelming majority of Monday's first game – a 121-117 win for the Knicks – honored the tradition.

But with just over twelve seconds left in the fourth quarter and the Pacers trailing, the officials took the game out of the players' hands.

With Tyrese Haliburton breaking slightly to the left out of halfcourt and his defender, Donte DiVincenzo, five feet away from him, Myles Turner placed an ordinary screen outside the three-point line. DiVincenzo hit the deck like he had hit a 2×4, rather than the kind of screen you see dozens of times in every game.

The sideline referee took the bait, called a moving screen and gave the ball back to the Knicks.

The piece was even reviewed. The call was granted. It was undoubtedly more of a flop than a moving screen, but the ball went the other way. And to make matters worse, Andrew Nembhard was whistled for an out-of-play foul before the ball went back into play. Brunson sank that free throw and made two more after a foul to stop the clock on the next possession.

At this point the game was essentially over. And the score remained constant at 121-117.

The Pacers' possession with 12 seconds left could have been electrifying. Indiana probably would have saved the last shot. A game winner would have been a great start to the series. But we'll never know how that possession would have played out because a routine play happens to be called differently than it normally is.

And therein lies perhaps the biggest problem with the incumbent adjustment. All in all, the more physical game is a better watch. It beats the constant fouling and other trickery that was so common in the first half of the season.

But it has resulted in many games becoming rugby matches sporadically interrupted by whistles, particularly in the playoffs. Players have naturally become accustomed to the rougher game, so everyone is understandably confused when these calls come. When there are multiple possessions in a row, any touch will result in uninvited contact. Then suddenly something like the moving screen call with Turner happens.

You can see it in almost every game right now, but it was particularly bad at Madison Square Garden on Monday.

It wasn't just the phone call. It was the situation in which it was made.

“The charges against Turner were reprehensible,” said The Ringer Bill Simmons Posted. “Light up.”

Fox Sports' Kevin Wildes added: “My bet is on the Knicks, but this is a terrible decision for Myles Turner.”

The Pacers understandably agreed.

Rick Carlisle took a slightly different approach, saying they weren't expecting calls in MSG, but also added“It would be nice if they gave that up, but they haven’t.”

Now we wait for the final two-minute report. Will they admit a mistake or repeat the in-game crew's explanation about the Turner move?

In any case, it's worth noting that league officials face an impossible task. These are the largest and fastest athletes in the world. On almost every possession there is a bang-bang play that could be a draw some A kind of reaction from the referees, especially since the players started playing more physically active.

And again, if the alternative is to return to a series of unwarranted fouls, unhindered routes to the rim and exorbitant point counts, the current approach is the better one.

But if the NBA sticks with the adjustments it made next season, officials will have to find the balance that eliminates moments like Monday's moving screen.

This was nothing compared to the way games have been played for months.