Luka Doncic fouls out of Game 3 of the NBA Finals

Sporting events will always be vehicles for controversy and antagonizing viewpoints due in large part to the fact that they are refereed. If players were asked to referee themselves, every game would end in a brawl or at least something approaching one.

As such, professional referees are asked to live up to a very high standard, especially during the course of a sport’s championship matchup, and the NBA is no different. The men and women that make up the NBRA have spent much of their lives accomplishing the requisite training to reach the big leagues, and certainly, being able to always get a clear angle on any given play and subsequently make the most accurate call is no small task.

Playoff basketball is fluid and fast, and unlike the regular season where basketball players are often held accountable for even the most nit-picky of fouls (when the stakes are low and the casual viewer isn’t watching), they’re usually allowed to play the game in a more unfettered fashion during the playoffs, with much more restraint on the part of the refs. This postseason has been very much aligned with that philosophy, and if anyone is unsure why, it’s because the fans want to see these guys play real basketball; the physicality fosters a dimension of competitiveness that adds to the appeal and the fulfillment of watching. Yet, like anything involving individuals, refereeing is a subjective practice, even if its actors are trained to perform demonstrations of an objective nature.

As any basketball fan knows, Luka Doncic has had a toxic relationship with the referees of the NBA for ALL of his tenure as a player. He disputes calls with unrivaled regularity. Many people dislike him on these grounds alone, not caring to judge him on the merits of his abilities, but rather for the combination of ferocity and tendency toward an incredulous mistrust of the referees that has become his on-court spirit. Whether or not the referees themselves harbor aversion for him can only be known by the referees themselves. This season’s playoffs have certainly been physical. For the most part, the refs have let guys play; whistles have been a much less frequent fixture during the course of a game. And for the most part, this has added to the enjoyment of the game. Guys are really having to work for it on both ends of the court. It’s fun to watch and prevents unfair advantages, reinforcing the public’s faith in the legitimacy of the league’s pledge to sustain an unbiased atmosphere.

Doncic, for his part, has been the target of some of the most aggressive and overly physical defense of anyone this postseason. That’s a subjective declaration, but anyone who would disagree either hasn’t been watching or is lacking in their pursuit of the truth. As a Dallas fan, there have been times during these playoffs where I felt that the refs were allowing the defense against him to veer into unfair territory, but I do my best to remember my own personal goal to remain a reasonable person, at least as much as possible. The fact is, Luka is a massive point guard, creating serious mismatches on the perimeter for those tasked with guarding him. Throwing aggressive, sometimes underhanded tactics at him is one of the few things that has worked to slow him down. He’s fought through it, often looking very displeased with the ref’s no-calls and vocalizing his opinions. As frustrating as it’s been sometimes, it has also been a lot of fun to watch him prevail, especially when the game is on the line.

In tonight’s game 3 of the NBA Championship in Dallas, the Mavericks soared back from a steep deficit with a 20-2 run, putting them one point behind Boston with only minutes left in the fourth quarter. Both Doncic and Kyrie Irving were playing their balls off, angling to put a W in the books in heroic fashion; and it appeared, for a moment, that those heroics could potentially provide the kind of momentum swing that could alter the course of a series, as Dallas was aiming big, being already behind 2-0 in the series.

Then there transpired a series of events that undoubtedly left others as perplexed as I was. Doncic was playing with 5 fouls. In what felt like a blur, almost immediately after what appeared to be a hard shooting foul against Luka underneath the basket, resulting in a missed shot, he was then subsequently called for a blocking foul on a Jaylen Brown drive to the basket with a maneuver which created the type of physical contact that hasn’t really been called a foul in this series. The play was challenged, reviewed, and confirmed; and the result, obviously, was that Doncic received his sixth foul and had been designated as ineligible to play for the remainder of the game. Again, this occurred with just minutes left in game 3 of the NBA Championship, with the game on the line and Dallas looking very poised to control the outcome of the game. After that point, unsurprisingly, everything went for the Celtics, who won the game easily to take a 3-0 series lead, a hole no team has ever come back from in finals history.

It feels ironic and somewhat inconsistent to see Doncic foul out of an NBA Finals game on such a questionable call, but all you can do is swallow your pride and say “okay”. It’s easy to get angry or feel humbled when your team loses, especially on the biggest stage. The little things have a way of winnings games for you and/or coming back to haunt you. You hope to see the refs just let these guys play. And they have, fortunately, for the most part…

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