Even the Dallas Mavericks have hit a point where they want to see Luka Dončić stop complaining to the officials about every call that doesn’t go his way.
Appearing on SportsCenter with Scott Van Pelt after Game 3 of the NBA Finals on Wednesday night (starts at 1:12 mark), ESPN’s Brian Windhorst said Mavericks coaches have “begged” and “pleaded” with Dončić to stop going after the officials during games.
Dončić fouled out of Game 3 against the Boston Celtics with 4:12 remaining in the fourth quarter. He was called for a blocking foul on Jaylen Brown attempting to prevent the Celtics forward from driving to the basket.
It was the fourth foul for Dončić in the fourth quarter alone. It came at a time when the Mavs were in the midst of a 22-2 run that got the deficit down to one point with 3:37 left to play.
Dončić blamed the officials for not letting the teams play physically as the reason he fouled out.
“We couldn’t play physical,” Dončić said after the game. “I don’t want to say nothing. You know, six fouls in the NBA Finals, basically I’m like this (motions with palms out). C’mon, man. Better than that.”
This is nothing new for Dončić, who has a well-earned reputation for antagonizing officials on the court. His actions are under a different microscope now because it’s impacting the Mavericks’ chances of winning the NBA Finals.
After Dončić fouled out, the Mavs scored nine points on 3-of-8 shooting the rest of the game. He finished the game with 27 points on 11-of-27 shooting, six rebounds and six assists in 38 minutes.
Dallas is now facing a 3-0 series deficit going into Game 4 on Friday night. In NBA history, teams that have lost the first three games in a best-of-seven series are 0-156. There have only been four instances in which a team forced a Game 7.