Rick Carlisle Ejected from Mavericks vs. Clippers Game 5 for Arguing with Refs

Dallas Mavericks head coach Rick Carlisle left Tuesday's Game 5 against the Los Angeles Clippers a bit earlier than expected and not on his own terms, either. 

Carlisle was ejected for arguing with officials with 6:42 left in the third quarter and the Mavs trailing 93-68. 

The Clippers cruised to a 154-111 victory to take a 3-2 series lead. 

If Carlisle was trying to spark his team, it didn't quite work. Dallas still trailed by 25 going into the fourth quarter as the Los Angeles starters caught fire. 

Paul George (35 points) finally broke out of his shooting slump while Kawhi Leonard added another 32 points himself. Six Clippers scored at least 11 points with Ivica Zubac (nine points, 7 rebounds) the only starter to score less than 10.

With Kristaps Porzingis sidelined because of injury for the second game in a row, there was little the Mavericks could do to slow down the Clips. 

Carlisle's ejection came as he argued over referees granting L.A. a challenge ahead of a Dallas free-throw attempt. It didn't look like Carlisle was going to get run from the game until he started clapping in the direction of the ref after getting a technical for arguing the call in the first place.

That set the coach off even more. Despite his assistants trying to calm him down, Carlisle continued to taunt the referee and was thrown out of the game moments later.