A Protest in Dallas
An exercise in futility
The Dallas Mavericks filed an official protest with the League office following a four-point loss to the Pacers on Friday night.
According to the Mavs, Troy Murphy was rewarded with a three point basket despite shooting it from well within the arc. Dallas also protested a non-call on Devin Harris, who didn’t get a whistle despite being clearly hacked as he went to the hoop in the fourth quarter (leading to the ejection of an enraged Avery Johnson.)
In a delicious twist of irony, the ref in the middle of all this is Bennett Salvatore. Yes, the same Salvatore who called the ultra-controversial foul on Dirk when D-Wade drove through the entire Mavs team towards the end of Game 5 during the 2006 NBA Finals.
Here’s what I don’t get: What good could possibly come out of this protest? The Mavs obviously won’t get the call reversed, and this will certainly not absolve Mark Cuban’s team of its unfortunate reputation as a group of soft whiners.
He’s great for the League, no doubt, but sometimes, Cubes should stick to signing the checks and just try to keep his mouth shut.
37 Responses to “A Protest in Dallas”
Nov.26 at 2:38 pm
bakers' dozen (12-13) says:
first…
I think this will become more the norm ever since Tim Donaghy came to light.
Nov.26 at 2:38 pm
H to the izzo says:
I simply refuse to believe that Cubes can’t take losing with grace.
Nov.26 at 2:38 pm
white hot eboy says:
First good thing Mutoni has wrote since early November. Cuban needs to die in a plane crash or under a stampede of dancers doing the foxtrot on his skull. Dude is such a prick.
Nov.26 at 2:41 pm
white hot eboy says:
You had to put a Heat dig in, Marcel. That’s why you got the back-handed compliment from me.
Nov.26 at 2:42 pm
H to the izzo says:
Eboy that was…..too far. Cubes is at least 67times better than Jerry Buss as an owner and probably a person.
Nov.26 at 2:43 pm
mutoni says:
i don’t see a heat dig anywhere; you’re paranoid, dude. but hey, a back-handed compliment is still better than a finger in my eye, so it’s all good.
Nov.26 at 2:44 pm
Cheryl says:
Next thing you know, Cubes will present evidence that Salvatore was in the grassy knoll. David Stern will then fine him $250,000.
Nov.26 at 2:45 pm
Myles Brown says:
[DMX]Here we go again…[DMX]
Nov.26 at 2:48 pm
white hot eboy says:
It had to be an ultra-controversial foul call, Mutoni, not plain controversial.
Nov.26 at 2:52 pm
peteb80 says:
The point here is: “Owner Mark Cuban said the referees were alerted to the fact that Murphy was inside the arc: “[The] official scorer said he notified the crew, and no action was taken,” Cuban said. “We are protesting that a correctible error was not corrected.”" I think that’s pretty rational complaint.
Nov.26 at 3:02 pm
$harp $hooter says:
refs are making some stupid calls now a days
Nov.26 at 3:03 pm
white hot eboy says:
pete, while that may be true, have you EVER seen a call overturned after a formal or informal protest? How many times do refs miss players stepping out of bounds, toes on the three point line, missed fouls on and off the ball. If there was an inquest for every missed call, there would never be a new game to talk about. It would be continual reviews game after game.
Nov.26 at 3:10 pm
jawn says:
dallas is soff… with a double f
Nov.26 at 3:15 pm
peteb80 says:
True, eboy. But in light of the Donaghy thing and that “new transparency with the officials” motto I think this is a good step towards holding the refs more accountable. While I think theoretically this is the right thing to do, you’re right, it would be problematic if everybody would start filing complaints. Maybe they really just want to get back at Salvawhore, that call he blew when Harris got fouled was just too blatant.
Nov.26 at 3:18 pm
white hot eboy says:
Pete, maybe ref suspensions will become the norm if this type of complaint is issued. I don’t know if that’s good or bad, though.
Nov.26 at 3:19 pm
Dutch Rich says:
Eboy doesn’t like Cubans neither.
Nov.26 at 3:24 pm
peteb80 says:
Also: While it doesn’t make sense to overturn foul calls or stepping out of bounds calls etc. after the fact, it’s very simple to just change the score during the game: they can look at video during a time-out or just believe the official scorer. It has happened before. But if the refs just decide they don’t feel like doing that, that’s just wrong.
Nov.26 at 3:29 pm
peteb80 says:
Suspending refs wouldn’t help, if they’re punished too hard , they’ll just be scared to make any calls.
Nov.26 at 3:35 pm
white hot eboy says:
Therein lies the problem, pete. What can they do? The statement “refs make mistakes” is so common, so it’s hard to pin blame on a call or two, however blatant, when 98% of the time their calls are on point.
Nov.26 at 3:39 pm
Dutch Rich says:
I think Cubes is looking for something more along the lines of Tarring and Feathering.
Nov.26 at 3:41 pm
peteb80 says:
Like apparently everyone, I have no clue how to fix it now. But I see a future where every player is wearing full-body spandex uniforms with sensors wifi’d up to a refereeing supercomputer that makes only correct calls. And these uniforms will be fugly, but we’ll have justice until the end of time.
Nov.26 at 3:48 pm
nothin personal says:
It was probably the only thing left to do. They protested, they showed videos and nothing happened. They were butchered in a finals series for God’s sake. (I don’t know if the Heat would have won anyway, but they definitelygot all the calls their way.) I think an oficcial repremand should be issued, regarding Bennie two t’s. Stern will never do it, though.
P.S. I wonder who spends the most: Dolan in luxury tax and Anucha funds, or Cubes in fines?
Nov.26 at 4:16 pm
Dutch Rich says:
Honestly, what else was Devin supposed to do with that ball, dribble out the shot clock. How the heck was that a non shooting foul. I’m happy that Stern has an arch nemesis just to keep sh*t balanced around the league. Someone has to hold them refs responsible for their f-ups.
That being said, why did RJ get two free throws and the ball after that clear path foul against LA. Shouldn’t it have been one freebie. Everyone looked puzzled but nobody raised a question.
Nov.26 at 4:20 pm
Dutch Rich says:
Nevah mind, apparently that rule was changed before last season.
Starving Marv didn’t seem to know about it.
Nov.26 at 5:34 pm
vmcb says:
i love d wade
Nov.26 at 6:00 pm
A Pimp Named Slickback says:
soft whiners.
Nov.26 at 6:49 pm
speedy says:
Referees in the NBA ain’t good at their job.
They make calls for star players they are not making for the average and a lot of times they are simply making the wrong calls.
What’s also very irritating to see that there are three of them on the floor and they nearly never correct each other doing their job what would help a lot . I think no one would be mad if they sometimes would put their heads together and find the right decision.
Especially if the games are on the line they have to work together because six eyes obviously see more then two.
Nov.26 at 7:05 pm
speedy says:
Another point on Mutoni’s comment.
Before the NBA changed it’s policy on criticzing the referees maybe Cuban and Avery just would have said after the game to the media what in their opinion went the f*** wrong in this game , how st*pid this ref must be and that he maybe has to consult his optician .
Then they could have calmed down and go on . Today you have to file a complaint if you are angry about some dumb decisions from the refs.
How should you make yourself heard if not that way in todays ‘clean’ NBA.
Nov.26 at 7:25 pm
speedy says:
One last thing. Mutoni can’t you write articles where you don’t get at Dirk or the Mavs . Do all the things Dirk has done and then get called a soft whiner makes me speechless .
OK not really.
Eye tests for every NBA ref.
Nov.26 at 9:07 pm
Kevin says:
basketball’s a very difficult game to officiate live, esp when you consider how fast these athletes are. not making excuses for the refs, coz this is one of the few times i think Cuban has a legit case, but i think they do a pretty good job in general, all things considered..
Nov.26 at 10:56 pm
ericmontross says:
I was at this game. It was terrible. One time during a Harris ft Grainger was inside the arc and jumped outside of it after Harris shot. Should have been a lane violation and it was taken to the refs by both Johnson and Terry and nothing was done. Murphy pushed Nowitzki and Nowitzki takes a step toward Murphy and both get T’d. Then Harris is hacked going to the basket. I don’t know where Salvatore thought Harris was going? Maybe jump into the crowd or say hi to the Pacemates. The absense of evidence is not the evidence of absense. Just because they haven’t proven more refs aren’t on the take doesn’t mean they aren’t.
Nov.27 at 4:12 am
Jukai says:
You guys REALLY don’t see how to fix this issue? Seriously, none of you? Watch some NFL. They have it right. Both Baseball and Basketball need this very simple addition, and it will make key umpire and referee errors things of the past.
Nov.27 at 5:01 am
ForzaMilan says:
Instant replay would make it hard to fix games.
Nov.27 at 5:29 am
peteb80 says:
Well Jukai, in the NFL there’s a stoppage in play like every 5 seconds and you can decide after each play if it counted or not. You can’t do that in basketball. You can’t stop the game after every shot to review it.
Nov.27 at 11:13 am
Jukai says:
Wow, that’s totally unfixable too, Pete. Oh wait, no it’s not. Two reviews every half. If they review the play and it turns out the refs were right, then you lose a timeout… or worse yet, a technical foul is placed against the coach. While it would be difficult to decide what to do with non-calls (probably just let whatever happened on the other side of the court happen and give the opposing team free throws), this will mostly be used for FOUL CALLS, and the action is already stopped. They already have instant replays for buzzer beaters. This will make Dallas v Heat type controversies a thing of the past.
Nov.27 at 11:25 am
peteb80 says:
Sounds okay Jukai, that non-call thing is a bit dubious, though. Also, I wouldn’t really want to have more breaks in the game, there’s way too many time-outs already.
Nov.27 at 4:09 pm
Jukai says:
I thought about that pete, and it’s true, that would certainly add to the increased breaks in the action. However, if you are a Suns or Dallas fan, right now you wouldn’t care if you had to wait a day for the game to resume. At least the league needs to try it.