Mavs Get Screwed by Refs Again

 

Let's begin by describing the play.  The Nuggets inbound the ball with about 7 seconds left on the clock.  The Mavs have one foul to give.   Carmelo Anthony catches the ball at the top of the three point line, being defended by Anthony Wright.  Carmelo attempts to dribble the ball but loses control, grabs the ball back and continues to move toward the side of the court.  Wright clearly bumps Carmelo body to body and takes a slap at the ball.  He must have made contact, because the ball comes loose. Credit goes to Anthony for continuing with the play and hitting an unbalanced three point shot.  All this happens right in front, actually about two feet from referee Mark Wunderlich.  Immediately the Mavs bench and players run to Wunderlich to tell him they had fouled Carmelo.  What was confusing about the play was that after Wright bumps Carmelo and smacks at the ball, he then raises both hands and stops.  Could he have gotten all ball?  Maybe, but he clearly bumped Carmelo hard enough to merit a foul.

 

In a game where 61 fouls were called, Wunderlich had great timing in swallowing his whistle.  I understand that it's tough to call a foul on a last second shot, but in this case it was just a foul that the Mavs had to give.  Denver would have still had 3.9 seconds to attempt a game winning shot or at least an attempt to tie since they would have been down by two at that point.  I think the refs in general did a good job during the game, but to miss that last foul is inexcusable.

 

To make matters worst, NBA president Joel Litvin, comes out with this gem, "At the end of the Dallas-Denver game this evening, the officials missed an intentional foul committed by Antoine Wright on Carmelo Anthony, just prior to Anthony's 3-point basket."  

 

Oh great, that helps!  Your refs have just screwed the Mavs, taking us out of this series, and now you say "oops", shrugging your shoulders?  How about some sort of discipline for your stinking referee?

 

"If I was the league, I wouldn't say that," Dirk Nowitzki said. "I don't think it makes anybody feel better. We don't get the last seven seconds back to kind of play it over again. More than anything, I think it made it worse."

 

Exactly.

 

How about that George Karl?  I have to be honest, I've always liked the way he coaches, but I've lost some respect for him after the events of this weekend.

 

During an interview Karl said that he would not have gone for a foul in that situation.  Oh shut up George!  Of course you foul, the idea is to run out the clock and put more pressure on that last shot. 

 

When asked about the non-call after the game, Karl responded, "non-call, what's a non-call?".  Ok, wait, is it necessary to act stupid after you've won the game?, then he adds "I didn't see a foul... I might have been reading something else or something... I didn't see much of a foul."  Really George?   Can you be any more of a faker?   A great response would of been, "well we did anticipate a foul, but luckily it didn't get called and Carmelo hit an amazing shot."  That would of been a much honest answer.  Hey, I'm a Mavs fan and I have to admit that Carmelo played through that foul, not giving up, and hitting a great shot.

 

At least Chauncey Billups was more genuine, "People fail to realize that you still have to make a tough shot. It was an unbelievable shot that Melo hit. So no matter what happens, that was an unbelievable shot."  

 

But, why am I mad at our beloved Mavericks?  Well, I'm not mad at all of them.  Let me clarify, I'm upset at their excuse for not being mad themselves.

 

"Well, it shouldn’t have come down to that" is the cliche being thrown around by players and fans.  I'm sorry but that reasoning just doesn't fly.  Many games go down to the wire and are won or lost in the last possible second.  Sure, the Mavs should have made a shot during their last attempt making it a four point game instead of two.  They should have also put the Nuggets away earlier, they should have also handled the fourth quarters in the previous two games better, they should have also won more games in the season to have a different seeding, they could have also... we could just go on and on.  The point is... who cares what that they should have done?  The fact is that they were up by two points with 7 seconds to go, with a foul to give, which is a great advantage to have at that time.  The refs stole that from the Mavs and now they have to live with it.

 

Now Cuban... I love Mark as an owner, but as a fan he sucks.  Shouting match with Kenyon Martins' mom?  Really Mark?  I'm ok with you yelling at the refs, sending video to the NBA, and all that, but yelling, "your son is a punk!"?  How does that help?

 

The reality is that Kenyon is a great player.  Ok, so I'm not a fan of the tatoos, specially the odd red lips on his neck, but as a player he is always hustling and he plays the physical game that I wish some of our Mavs would play.  Even in game two, after being physical with Dirk the two were making each other laugh during the game. It's obvious that things are not personal between players. They are hard fought playoff battles and that's what makes this time of year great.

 

So we are down 0-3 in the series.  Is it over?

 

"The odds are against us, but I like our team," Jason Terry said. "I'm still confident we can do it, especially in this building. The sense of urgency is now. I think we're going to surprise some people. They think it's over. But it's not over."

 

I hope you're right Jet, and I'll be cheering for our Mavs until the end...