When you have a foul to give and you’re up by two, the last thing you do is let a good shooter get off a three point shot. The fans, the owners, the coaches and the players know this. More importantly, the officials know this. In fact, the league has come up with rules designed to protect players in circumstances where everyone knows a foul is coming: call the foul, don’t expose players to injury. But the other night, the Dallas Mavericks were trailing 2-0 in the series and clinging to a 2 point lead in game 3 of the Western Conference semi-finals. With time running down and a foul to give, they followed the rules by fouling the ball handler, Carmelo Anthony, wanting to prevent him from getting off a 3-point shot. But the foul wasn’t called, and Anthony buried the shot, costing the Mavs the game and essentially ended the series. Mavs owner Mark Cuban flipped his lid (understandably) and NBA president Joel Litvin acknowledged that the refs made a mistake and should have called the foul. Oops. In the end it’s 3-0 instead of 2-1, and once again the league isn’t following it’s own rules.
