NBA Playoffs 2011: Dallas Mavericks Keep Winning Despite Biased Officiating

In the postseason, it would be hard to find another team that has played with the passion and aggressiveness the Mavericks have displayed so far.

“Disrespect” is really the only word that applies to what this series is becoming.

The Dallas Mavericks stomped the defending champions Los Angeles Lakers and shocked the NBA on their way to the Western Conference Finals.

That was not enough. 

NBA "experts" still doubted the Mavericks could come out of the West and found every possible way to devalue their dominance against the Lakers.

Despite showing their aggressiveness for pretty much the entire 48 minutes of each game, they have been constantly disrespected by the referees in this series against the Oklahoma City Thunder. 

The Mavericks are—and will—keep being a jump-shooting team.

Despite criticism, shooting jump shots is the Mavericks' biggest strength.

Making jump shots is not the only reason the Mavericks are dangerous. Their ability to do so  often opens up opportunities to drive the ball, score inside and get to the line—where they are lethal.

They have done just that this postseason and throughout the regular season as well.

Dirk Nowitzki has been amazing, especially in the playoffs. He and Tyson Chandler constantly get to the line and make their opponents pay.

The same thing could be said about five or six other Mavericks.

In this series, they have stuck to their gameplan and have gotten the same contact—only to watch the referees swallow their whistles and then blow them on touch and phantom fouls on the other side of the court.

On the other hand, the OKC Thunder have lived at the foul line since their first playoff game.  Credit needs to be given where it is deserved, and it is obvious this young Thunder team has a great ability to get to the foul line.

Regardless, the referees need to be consistent in what they call.

Many of the calls the Thunder have been awarded have not been deserved. 

One can understand if a team earns 25—or even 30 attempts in a game—but 43 and 36? It might not be as shocking if the opposing team was not shooting about 10 less per game (and winning).

Several factors have been specifically frustrating.

Russell Westbrook, who is already having a horrible time controlling the ball and limiting turnovers, has gotten into the lane numerous times and lost the ball—only to be awarded with two foul shots. 

Kevin Durant has swung his arms repeatedly and missed the defender, but he has still had fouls called on awkward-looking jump shots that had no chance of making it in the basket.

James Harden has flopped his way into offensive fouls—and even technical fouls—on opposing defenders.

This has been consistent throughout all three games of this series.

In Game 3, Dirk was pushed, bumped and hacked, and no fouls were called. Serge Ibaka, Kendrick Perkins and Thabo Sefelosha, as well as Nick Collison specifically, took turns fouling Dirk all game.

The results of Game 3’s officiating were atrocious. 

Dallas came out with a small-margin victory, but the Thunder went away having shot 36 foul shots to only 18 for the Mavericks. The 18 free throws by the Mavericks do not even tell the entire story because the last six were clock-stopping fouls.

If you do the math, the free-throw disparity was 12- to 36 in favor of the Thunder, who lost the game.

The referees still have time to even the series out, one in which the Thunder already have 27 more foul attempts. 

Game 4 will be interesting to watch with this point of view to further evaluate what is really going on with the biased officiating.

Is it just something that happened to be? Is it truly intentional? More evidence will clearly show what’s going on here.