Anyone who has been paying attention to the NBA of late knows the building hostility between players and the referees. What happened late in Tuesday’s game involving the Dallas Mavericks and the Denver Nuggets certainly would not help smooth the rough relationship the two sides are having this season.
Dallas entered the fourth quarter behind by 16 points, but a 33-point explosion in the period had the Mavericks close to stealing a win in Mile High City, but the referees stubbornly did not call the Mavericks repeated attempt at fouling Will Barton near the end of the game. At that point, the Nuggets only had a slim one-point lead, so the Mavs just wanted to stop the clock and send any Nugget to the free-throw line. But it was only when there were just 1.7 seconds left and after the Nuggets made two passes before a referee blew a whistle.
The Mavericks came short of throwing a chair at Will Barton during that sequence just to force the referees to call a foul. An earlier whistle would have left the Mavs ample time to get off a decent shot in trying to tie the game.
Obviously, the Mavericks were not happy how the game unfolded in the end. Dwight Powell and Wesley Matthews made sure at least one referee knew what their true feelings were by going right up to his face.
Dallas lost the game, 105-102, for their 30th defeat of the season, while the now 23-21 Nuggets escaped with their second win in three games.
Dallas’ loss wasted a brilliant game from Dennis Smith Jr., who scored 25 points on an efficient 11-of-18 shooting night that included this powerful slam.
The 15-30 Dallas was a 5.5-point road underdog heading into the game.
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