NEW ORLEANS – For the Dallas Mavericks, it was an unbelievable and unforgettable finish on Wednesday night to a game at Smoothie
King Center they obviously believe they should have won.
One minute the Mavs thought they scored a go-ahead bucket, which could have propelled them to a victory, and the next minute they found themselves on the losing end of a 119-116 score to the New Orleans Pelicans. The Mavs left the Crescent City very frustrated as they ended the first half of the season with a disappointing 22-19 record following a controversial ending to Game No. 41.
The critical point of the game occurred when Mavs forward P. J. Washington stole the ball from Jordan Hawkins near midcourt with Dallas down, 117-116, and seven seconds left in the game. The ball eventually ended up in the hands of Mavs guard Spencer Dinwiddie, who drove to the basket and tossed up a shot that Trey Murphy III was credited with blocking with just 3.1 seconds remaining.
But the Mavs contend that goaltending should have been called on Murphy, which would have given them a 118-117 lead. However, as play continued, in the mad scramble for the loose ball, Washington was whistled for fouling Murphy with 1.5 seconds remaining.
Murphy drained a pair of free throws, giving him 24 points for the night and New Orleans a 119-116 lead. The Mavs were out of timeouts, so a desperation heave by Naji Marshall at the buzzer never got close to the rim.
However, the main talking points after this game – from the Mavs’ perspective – was that they thought Murphy should have been whistled for goaltending on Dinwiddie’s shot.
Replays showed that after Dinwiddie put the ball on the backboard, Murphy clearly touched the ball, which by NBA rules, a goaltend should have been called. While the Mavs were frantically jumping up and down in protest of the no-call, the play officially could not be reviewed because no call was made by the referees while the game was in progress.
And since goaltending wasn’t called, the play was not reviewable and couldn’t be challenged, which left the Mavs not in the best of moods.
“The review is to protect the officials and they review it to try to get it right,” Mavs coach Jason Kidd said. “That’s what the review or the challenge is for in the last two minutes . . . someone should have blown the whistle to get it right.
“I think all three (referees) were scared to death to do anything, so they did nothing. Then they let it go.”
Dinwiddie said family and friends were blowing up his cell phone and sending him replays of the play in question. And when he saw the replay, that’s when he definitely knew his basket should have counted, although he already knew goaltending should have been called when the play occurred.
“I got back to my phone and obviously everybody had sent me tweets and replays,” said Dinwiddie, who finished with 20 points, five rebounds and three steals. “I love my employers – the NBA.
“I think the refs have a hard enough job as it is. I would say in a perfect world if you’re not sure, you probably should just call (goaltending).”
Dinwiddie said he shot the ball the way he did so he could be sure that either he would score, or if the Pelicans touched the ball, then it would be called goaltending on the court by the referees. Unfortunately for the Mavs, neither one of those two options took place.
“I see them coming and it’s just like the scoop plays I take all the time,” Dinwiddie said. “If you watch my career, when I beat the big, I hold it out right here and I put it directly on the glass. If you do happen to block it, it already hit the glass. I’ve made a bunch of money doing the same type of move.
“You saw me do it to (Pelicans forward Yves) Missi three or four times in the game where he’s slapping the hell out of the backboard and he’s like, ‘Damn, I thought I got it.’ Well, you got to be quicker than that. And even if you do get it, I’m still getting the bucket. The reason why I shoot that shot that way – that scoop underhand shot. I just have to get it on the glass.”
The no-call put a damper on a game in which center Daniel Gafford scored a career-high 27 points, grab 12 rebounds, block two shots and was an amazing 12-of-13 from the field. Gafford started in place of Dereck Lively II, who sat out this game while nursing the right ankle sprain he sustained during Tuesday’s contest against Denver.
Guards Luka Dončić (left calf strain) and Kyrie Irving (lumbar back sprain) also did not play, which left the Mavs handicapped on the second night of a back-to-back. Nevertheless, Dinwiddie said it was frustrating to lose a game in this manner to the 10-32 Pelicans.
“But it’s not the only reason you lose,” he said. “You know the politically correct answers.
“You talk about all the defensive breakdowns we had, all the shots we missed, or how we could have made more plays and we gave up 119 points. All those nice things.”
Washington pointed to the 17 turnovers — leading to 24 points for New Orleans — that the Mavs committed as another source of frustration which hampered Dallas in this game.
“It’s frustrating, but that’s what happens when you don’t take care of the ball and take control of the game in crunch time,” said Washington, who contributed 14 points and 14 rebounds. “Obviously, we’ve got to be better, and it sucks to lose like that, but it is what it is.”
Dallas held a 105-98 lead with 6:15 remaining following a basket in the paint from Naji Marshall. But the Pelicans responded with an 11-2 run to assume a 109-107 lead after a three-pointer and a jumper from Dejounte Murray with 3:41 left.
“We were trying to put CJ McCollum in ball screens and just try to attack,” Washington said, in reference to the time when the Pelicans fought back from that late seven-point deficit. “We scored a couple of times, but obviously it wasn’t enough.
“We could have executed better, did a lot of things better, obviously. So, we just got to watch film, learn from it and get better and try to build good habits.”
Seven points from Klay Thompson gave the Mavs a 112-109 lead with 2:06 left. But a basket by Murray and a three-pointer from Javonte Green pushed the Pelicans back in front, 116-114, with 43.9 seconds to go.
Murray split a pair of free throws, and Washington drilled two charity tosses, leaving the Mavs down, 117-116, with 15.8 seconds remaining. From there, the controversial ending took place.
Kidd, whose team will host Oklahoma City on Friday, said he didn’t get any explanations from the referees on the non-goaltending call.
“They didn’t see it,” Kidd said. “That’s the explanation. They didn’t see it. It’s tough. I get it. That’s their job, but they didn’t do their job tonight.”
And that left the Mavs – who got 21 points from Jaden Hardy and 14 from Thompson — pondering the game that somehow got away from them.
“I don’t know about a protest, but the league wants to get it right,” Kidd said. “The referees have a tough job. They clearly did not get that one right.
“It cost us maybe the game, so we can learn from that and hopefully the referees can be better in close games. We’ve been in this league a long time and we’ve seen a lot of crazy stuff happen, but no one saw the goaltending but everybody that was there.”
X: @DwainPrice
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