Posted by Sabrina B. @gametimegirl
Dallas Mavericks point guard Jason Kidd has been fined $25,000 for public criticism of game officials, the NBA announced Wednesday.
Kidd complained after Monday’s 95-91 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder, saying that Dallas doesn’t get the respect from referees it deserves as defending NBA champion.
“We don’t get the benefit of the whistle,” Kidd said. “I don’t think we’re looked upon as champions, but that’s a whole other story. Dirk [Nowitzki] should live at the line if they would call it the way it’s supposed to be. But he doesn’t.”
The Mavericks were upset about a 33-10 disparity in free throws in Oklahoma City’s favor and were particularly displeased with a critical foul call on center Ian Mahinmi that sent Thunder power forward Serge Ibaka to the line for the go-ahead free throws with 46.2 seconds remaining. The Mavericks thought it was a clean block by Mahinmi.
“I’m in disbelief that there was a foul call on Mahinmi,” said Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle, who was not fined by the league. “I just watched the play five times. I mean, it’s a block. It’s an enormous play. And then Nowitzki gets hit on the arm at the other end and there’s no call. So, I’m at a loss. I apologize for that.”
Added Kidd: “He didn’t foul him. It was a bad call. Clean block. I just said [to the official] it wasn’t a foul. He blocked the ball and after the play he said he bumped him with his body. I don’t think so. It was a bad night for the officials. It happens.”
The Mavericks have had complaints about officiating the last two times they played the Thunder, the team Dallas beat in the Western Conference finals last season.
Owner Mark Cuban was fined $75,000 for comments made after the Mavs’ Feb. 1 home loss to the Thunder. Cuban said then that he hadn’t seen officiating “this bad in a long, long time” — openly questioning how the lockout-compressed schedule affects referees — and that the officiating crew’s performance in that game was “just off-the-charts bad.”
Carlisle was fined $35,000 after that game for inadvertently kicking a ball into the stands, a result of his frustration with a no-call.
This is the second time in Kidd’s 18-year career that he has been fined for criticizing officiating. He was fined $20,000 in December 2006 for a rant in which he referred to the officiating crew as “the three blind mice” after his New Jersey Nets lost 92-91 to the Detroit Pistons.
WRITTEN BY Tim MacMahon | ESPNDallas.com & FULL STORY HERE
