Mark Cuban has a lot of problems with NBA officiating. This is not news. He's been harping on it for years. And while the NBA has installed more transparency and review systems for officiating than it ever has, Cuban's still going to look for an edge, or at least to even the scales in his mind.
His latest campaign is about how many times Monta Ellis gets no-called. Ellis was injured in the Mavericks' loss to the Spurs Friday, and didn't get to the line. After the game, Cuban went off about how the officials treat Ellis.
Cuban, who has calmly mentioned in the past that Ellis doesn't get as many calls as he should, said he was set off after seeing Spurs power forward Tim Duncan smack Ellis in the face without a foul being called.
"He got hit in the face, Duncan got his body lower, hand was down like this in the replay, and then [referee] Monty McCutchen says he was straight up and down," Cuban said. "Say you missed it, cool. Say you'll look at it, cool. Say you weren't sure, cool. Say it wasn't your call, cool. But when the second defender doesn't jump, it can't be up and down. When a drive starts at the top of the key and you go straight down, it's not lower box, it can't be up and down unless you jump.
"That's crazy, and it happens three times a game for Monta, every game. It's ridiculous."
Cuban said the Mavs have sent "a long list" of non-calls they believed should have been fouls on Ellis drives to the league office this season. Cuban isn't satisfied with the "ridiculous feedback" the Mavs have received from the NBA, so he decided to take an aggressive public stance on the issue, asking for help from the fans.
"I'm not allowed to say how many and what, but we literally have a play list of all the calls of Monta getting smacked and no call," Cuban said. "It's crazy. It's crazy. It's always the same: 'Oh, it's incidental,' or 'It's not this, it's not that.' We tried. We tried to play the game.
"Maybe it will all change next year. I'm not even expecting the league to change anything. I'm hoping fans, every time that happens, fans post a video of it so everybody can see it."
via Monta Ellis of Dallas Mavericks injures calf, leads Mark Cuban to complain about officiating - ESPN Dallas.
This is the closest thing I could find to the play that Cuban's talkinga bout. And... I mean, yeah, he got fouled.
Duncan definitely gets him in the face, while also getting hit in the process. Did that lead to the no-call?
And there was the follow-up tweet.
It's criminal how Monta doesn't get calls Pushed.Hit in face.Hit on arm.Im tired of turning in calls.Fans need to post video to wake NBA up.
— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) March 28, 2015Yeah, that's going to be a fine.
Cuban said after the game the Mavericks have sent in a lot of film of Ellis taking a beating and get feedback that, uh, they don't agree with.
"I'm not allowed to say how many and what, but we literally have a play list of all the calls of Monta getting smacked and no call," Cuban said. "It's crazy. It's crazy. It's always the same: 'Oh, it's incidental,' or 'It's not this, it's not that.' We tried. We tried to play the game.
"Maybe it will all change next year. I'm not even expecting the league to change anything. I'm hoping fans, every time that happens, fans post a video of it so everybody can see it."
For what it's worth, Ellis is 46th among all NBA players with over 100 isolation possessions in percentage of possessions that end with free throws, via Synergy Sports. Dion Waiters draws more fouls driving than he does. If the league fines Cuban but changes the frequency of calls for Ellis, that's a trade-off Cuban will make.
HT: ProBasketballTalk
