In what was a tight, back and forth game between the Dallas Mavericks and Los Angeles Clippers on Monday night, a scuffle between Clippers forward Marcus Morris and Mavericks’ star guard Luka Doncic broke out that led to technicals – just not for those two players. When the shoving started Mavericks big man, and widely regarded as their second-best player, Kristaps Porzingis entered the fray and got testy with Morris. This would be a rather innocuous interaction if it weren’t for the fact that the game’s referees decided to give Porzingis a technical fro his troubles, his second of the game, and therefore an automatic ejection.
This angered many fans who thought it was a “soft technical” at best and should not have directly affected the result of a playoff game. The Mavericks, who were underdogs heading into this series, clawed back from an almost immediate 10-0 deficit to take the lead at the end of the first half. When Porzingis was ejected early in the third quarter, they were still leading 71-66. It is impossible to say how much this affected the outcome of the game but considering the fact that Dallas ended up losing the game 118-100, it is hard to argue that this didn’t help the Clippers out. “I didn’t think it was much of nothing, honestly,” Morris said. “I think Luka thought that I was being, I guess, extra physical or something, but if you look at the film, I actually wasn’t doing anything. I didn’t think it was enough to get technical fouls. I wish that Porzingis played because it’s playoffs, man – nobody should get thrown out in playoffs. I know that really hurt their team. Not my fault, but I didn’t think it was that serious.”
I imagine that the league will talk to these referees and remind them that they are in a game to make sure that it is played fairly – but not actually affect the outcome to the best of their ability. I
