Minnesota Sports Forum

In a move that was totally expected, the NBA admitted that the Dallas Mavericks caught a huge break which helped them win Saturday's home game against the New Orleans Pelicans. Rod Thorn, the NBA's president of basketball operations, released a statement Sunday which said Mavs guard Monta Ellis should have been whistled for a foul with 0.6 seconds left against Pelicans guard Austin Rivers, who was trying to attempt a three-point field goal in a game Dalllas won 110-107. Had the foul been called, Rivers would have been at the free throw line with a chance to tie the game and send it into overtime. "After reviewing postgame video, we have determined a foul should have been called on Dallas' Monta Ellis for illegal contact on the arms of New Orleans' Austin Rivers while Rivers was attempting a three-point field goal,'' Thorn's statement said. "Rivers should have been awarded three free throws with 0.6 left on the clock." Fort Worth Star-Telegram - See more at: http://hoopshype.com/rumors.htm#sthash.nHHJic1o.dpuf

I was just going to post something similar.

In a coincidence... Dallas is 2 games up for the final playoff spot in the West.
That non-call (which ESPN doesn't have in its in-game highlights for some reason) might be more ridiculous when you consider the officials called 56 other fouls in that game and Dallas took 45 free throws.

Obviously, they weren't really letting them play... well, until the very end.

The thing that hurts the Wolves most about this is that the Mavs hold the 8th spot in the West. It wasn't so much the bad calls, but that it got the Mavs two more wins. Two wins that might come back to bite us at the end of the regular season.