CLEVELAND – After the NBA admitted missing two critical officiating calls in the final possessions of the Mavericks’ loss to the LA Lakers on Friday, it left some fans even angrier.
While the transparency is appreciated by everybody, it doesn’t change anything about the outcome.
Proprietor Mark Cuban understands that fans might be mad knowing that the referees may have cost their team the game. But it’s still a massive improvement, he said, over the way things were.
“I love it,” Cuban said of the league’s Last Two Minute report of games that are within five points in the time frame. “Remember, we went through a period not long ago where people thought the games were fixed. There was no transparency. We went through a long period where people thought – and some people still think – the stars get all the calls.
“Before, it would have been, OK, they missed the call. They’re bad, but it’s because the game is fixed. Of course they’re not going to call it against the Lakers. It’s a different kind of mad. So now you at least know the facts.
Cuban also said he would endorse doing a call-by-call report for all overtime periods, too. He knows it’s not going to change outcomes of games that already are finished, but you can know, when the league admits it missed a call, hopefully they learn from it and don’t do it again.
The Mavericks were up by three points on the fateful possession at the end of regulation on Friday, but the Lakers got a 3-pointer from Danny Green at the buzzer to force overtime. On that play, Seth Curry had a chance to go defend Curry, but was visibly held by Dwight Howard. No whistle blew, and in the league’s Two Minute Report, it was listed as “an incorrect non-call.”
When Rick Carlisle was asked what he took from that episode in terms of teaching points, he said: “Hope the officials call an obvious foul on the other team at the end. That’s the first thing. Other than that, I was proud of the way our guys competed. We didn’t play a perfect game, but we battled and we gave ourselves a chance and we were one whistle away from a huge win. But those things happen. We’ve got to move forward.”
That’s what they did in Cleveland. But Cuban emphasized that he has some ideas about how to help the officiating process. Referees that come through the G-League and get promoted to the NBA clearly are the best of the up-and-coming officials.
But they can use more help, Cuban said.
“We spend all our resources trying to train NBA refs,” he said. “And in my opinion, we don’t take enough resources to train G-League refs. The G-League has a 45-game season. There’s time for refs to spend time getting more training, doing more video work, do more on-court work. They can work with G-League teams during practices.
“It’s really hard to make a ref better during an 82-game (NBA) season. They’re traveling. It’s physically tough on them and they don’t have the time. The G-League is different. If we can be good at training refs, then we should apply all those resources. I think the Joey Crawfords, the Bennett Salvatores, the Mark Wunderlichs, etc., they shouldn’t be up here talking to NBA refs, they should be going to Santa Cruz and Maine and they should be spending all the time with G-League refs, because that’s who we need to make better.”
Kleber sits with knee issue: Big man Maxi Kleber traveled to Cleveland, but did not play in Sunday’s game because of a right knee contusion.
“It’s not considered serious,” Carlisle said. “But he’s not 100 percent, so we’re going to err on the side of caution and try to get him ready to practice Tuesday and play Wednesday (against Orlando).
Kleber had played in all five games before Sunday, starting two. He is averaging 8.8 points and 7.8 rebounds.
Twitter: @ESefko
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