On Wednesday night, Dallas Mavericks fans experienced one of the most controversial endings to a game that we've seen in recent memory.
Dallas was neck and neck with the New Orleans Pelicans as time crept out in the fourth quarter, and with less than 10 seconds left in the game, the Mavs had the chance to take the lead. The score was 117-116, and as Dallas pushed the ball in transition, Naji Marshall found Spencer Dinwiddie cutting to the rim for a layup.
After Dinwiddie's layup attempt hit the backboard, Trey Murphy III blocked the shot, but goaltending wasn't called. It was one of the worst missed calls of the season, and it ended up costing the Mavs the game. Since nothing was called, they couldn't go back and review the play, and fans were furious after the game.
Jason Kidd matched Mavs fans' frustration, stating that the referees "didn’t do their job" during his postgame press conference, and the players were just as angry. After the game, Dinwiddie gave a lengthy explanation of the play that had transpired, breaking down how he purposely shoots scoop layups in that way to force defenders to goaltend the shot, and he also spoke about some other calls that were missed during the game.
Marshall's frustration led to an angry tweet and hilarious text
Marshall was frustrated as well, considering he is the one who passed Dinwiddie the ball, and he put out a tweet (that has been deleted since), stating "Mines well just play pickup and call our own fouls and calls!!!" He has been known for putting out tweets right after the games end at different points this season, and his chatter about this horrendous call flowed into some playful chatter with Murphy III, his old teammate.
Murphy III and Marshall played for three seasons together in New Orleans, and their friendship is still going strong, even after Marshall signed with Dallas over the summer. In Thursday's episode of The Young Man and the Three, Murphy III said that Marshall hilariously texted him the infamous "I touched the ball coach" commercial promoting sportsmanship in which a player admits to tipping a ball out of bounds to the referees in a championship game resulting in the referees changing the call, and Marshall recommended that Murphy III should have done the same after goaltending Dinwiddie's shot.
Murphy III later talked about the moment after the game when he watched the video of the play for the first time, saying "I see where somebody could say they thought that was goaltending. Y'all might have a point." Even Murphy III knew that goaltending should have been called, but there's nothing that can be done about it now.
Regardless of whether he was being playful in his texts to Murphy III, Marshall still has to be fired up after losing like that to his old team, especially with how close they were to winning. Marshall did his part in the game, as he finished with seven points and a career-high 10 assists, and he was one goaltending call away from making that total 11 assists.
The Mavericks don't plan on protesting this call, and they'll have to move on quickly as their upcoming stretch is going to be a tough one. After playing the Thunder tonight, they play the Charlotte Hornets, Minnesota Timberwolves, Thunder again, and the Boston Celtics, all in the span of the next eight days.
