Why were both the Lakers and Mavericks angry at referees after their double overtime game?

In what could have been mistaken for UFC bout, the Los Angeles Lakers and Dallas Mavericks went to war in a game that truly went the distance. Neither team was very happy about refereeing decisions throughout and they made it known.

Lakers and Mavericks angry about calls in double overtime battle

On Thursday night the Los Angeles Lakers and the Dallas Mavericks played out a slugfest that was supposed to be a basketball game. With 47 minutes and 58 seconds on the clock and the score tied, the Lakers found themselves with possession and a chance to win the game. Queue the drama. Off of the inbound pass to LeBron James, the Mavericks quickly double-teamed the star who then proceeded to dish the ball to an open Troy Brown Jr., at which point the latter attempted to shoot what could have been the basket that would have given LA a much-needed win. Unfortunately, Brown was hit in the process and the ball fell short. A clear foul, no? Not quite. The referee’s whistle stayed unblown and the buzzer sounded. Overtime.

What happened next was as puzzling as it was sort of entertaining. Following two overtime periods, the Mavs got themselves a 119-115 win and let’s just say things got heated after. Speaking after the game, Lakers head coach Darvin Ham made his position clear. “It looked clear as day that it was a foul,” Ham said. James himself was not so articulate. “That’s a f---ing foul,” he said, from across the locker room, as Brown was asked about the play in the post-game media session.

What did the referees say about alleged foul on Troy Brown Jr.?

You can probably guess, the referees on Thursday night were not in any mood to give ground on the contentious call. Addressing the situation after the game, referee Josh Tiven didn’t back down. “Hardaway Jr. gets a piece of the ball on the closeout and then does make some high five contact, which is legal and that play was correctly no called,” Tiven said. To be clear, while it obviously carried much more weight, there were several calls with which the Lakers took issue on the night. On the other hand, it could also be argued that many went in their favor.

Consider for a moment, that the Lakers did end up with 27 attempts from the free throw line, while the Mavericks were only awarded 17. Dallas’ talisman, Luka Doncic, was pursued tirelessly by Russell Westbrook for essentially the entire game. Indeed, the much-maligned former MVP definitely did his best to silence critics where his defense is concerned, but not everyone was impressed, least of all Mavericks owner Mark Cuban. “Stan Van Gundy is absolutely right,” Cuban tweeted in a reference to a comment made by TNT’s broadcaster: “Worst officiated game. Luka gets no respect. Unreal.” In the name of fairness, it should be mentioned that Westbrook was at one point called for a flagrant foul on Doncic.

Did referees lose control of the Lakers vs Mavericks game?

Here’s the thing, if we take Westbrook’s foul as an example, it was clear that he made no attempt to get the ball when he barged into Doncic. Yet, it begs a question when you look at the game overall, which is to say there were countless fouls of a similar nature. Quite frankly, the game was probably the most the physical contest that we’ve witnessed this season. What cements the point even further, is that we saw collectively 12 minutes of play between the 2nd and 3rd quarters, when not a single free throw was taken despite what could be considered as constant and borderline violent conduct.

Ultimately, in any team sport if you find both teams complaining about refereeing decisions, it’s highly likely that it was a fair game. Yet, it would be fair to say many of the complaints from both camps were well justified. That’s to say, we think the officials may have let this one slip away and what we got was a marathon of aggression, bickering and above all physicality.