Mavericks owner unhappy with refs
MIAMI — Somehow, Mark Cuban’s concerns have become the Miami Heat’s problem. Coincidence? Possibly. But there are numbers that don’t lie when it comes to the timing.
Going into Friday night’s game against the Dallas Mavericks at American-Airlines Arena, the Heat had been called for 10 illegal-defense technical fouls since Dec. 18, after being cited for just five over the first seven weeks.
The timing of the onset of the calls against the Heat for having a defender in the lane for more than 2.9 seconds while not actively guarding another player came in the wake of a rant by Cuban, the Mavericks’ owner, following a Dec. 9 loss by his team to the Atlanta Hawks.
Following that game, while in the locker room, Cuban bemoaned, “I know it’s not the league, so somewhere along the line officials have chosen not to call defensive three seconds.”
He continued, “It’s not a tough rule. I don’t know what’s happened, but it’s changed the game. We’ve even started to tell our guys, ’Just stand in the paint and don’t move,’ but some teams have figured it out before us. So it’s just wrong.”
And then the game changed for the Heat, including the Christmas Day home victory over the New Orleans Pelicans, when the Heat were called for four such violations, with two more in Tuesday night’s overtime loss to the Memphis Grizzlies.
“It’s one of those calls you can make on every possession,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “I want our guys to be alert. We just have to be way more detailed if it’s a foot over the line.”
But Spoelstra is not convinced the Heat have crossed any line.
“Every time I’ve complained that they’ve dinged us on it, I feel like we’ve been moving in roughly the same manner that we were in the beginning of the year,” he said. “They’ve made it more of an emphasis with the league.”
It’s timing for the Heat that curiously began in the wake of Cuban’s comments. “So we’ll adjust,” Spoelstra said.
For the Heat, center Hassan Whiteside, a player who prefers to remain in the paint to block shots, went into Friday’s play with six such violations, one shy of the league lead. Forward Chris Bosh had been cited for three and center Amar’e Stoudemire, even in his limited minutes, for two.
A week prior to Cuban’s locker-room complaints, the NBA on Dec. 2 issued a “Points of Emphasis” memo addressing the defensive 3-seconds rule. The Heat had been called for only three such violations prior to the issuance of that memo, which included several video clips and ended with, “We are always reinforcing these concepts with referees.”
30 for Richardson
Heat guard Josh Richardson had a strong DLeague debut Thursday night with the Heat’s minor-league affiliate, the Sioux Falls Skyforce, scoring a game-high 30 points in a 119-105 victory over the Raptors’ affiliate in Mississauga, Ontario.
Richardson played 42 minutes, 42 seconds, shooting 10 of 22 from the field and 3 of 10 on 3-pointers, with seven rebounds and four assists.
Forward Jarnell Stokes, also on loan from the Heat, scored 26 points on 11-of-13 shooting, with seven rebounds and two blocked shots.
Richardson and Stokes again will play for the Skyforce against the Raptors’ affiliate on Saturday before rejoining the Heat for Sunday’s road game against the Wizards. Richardson appeared in 13 games for the Heat prior to this assignment, averaging 1.7 points and 1.1 rebounds in 9.2 minutes per game, shooting .316 from the field and .400 on 3-pointers.