Marcus Smart has been one of the best defensive players in the NBA this season and he's been doing it quietly. Guards barely get any defensive respect anymore but Smart is certainly trying to change that. He's a huge part of the Boston Celtics puzzle and could be in contention for defensive player of the year if he keeps this up. While this may be the case, Tuesday night wasn't one of his finest moments. He had some great plays although it all came crashing down at the end of regulation when the game was tied.
Smart was talking to the referees when all of a sudden, he became irate and started calling one of the officials a "pussy." Eventually, Smart had to be held back and was eventually escorted off of the court. The Celtics went on to lose the game in overtime by a score of 129-120.
This isn't the first time a player has been angry at the officials and it certainly won't be the last. Things like this happen all the time as players and officials butt heads over every little thing imaginable. Last night, the refs in the Celtics game were being lambasted on social media so Smart's reaction shouldn't be all that surprising.
If you're the Celtics, you can't be mad at one of your stars being as passionate as Smart was at that moment.
Mark Cuban Fires Off On NBA Refs For "20 Years" Of Bad Officiating
In a series of tweets, Mark Cuban called out NBA refs for over "20 years" of bad officiating after the Mavericks' loss to the Hawks on Saturday night.
The Dallas Mavericks lost 111-107 to the Atlanta Hawks, Saturday night, prompting a series of tweets from Mark Cuban directed at NBA officials.
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As ESPN reports, Cuban's remarks were aimed at an overturned goaltending call on a shot from Atlanta's John Collins, which sealed the game.
"So they call a goaltend," Cuban began. "They literally blew the whistle that it was a goaltend. There was a putback after the whistle. After review, they said no goaltend but count the basket? WTF is that? That's NBA officiating.
"1 of the refs told us it was an inadvertent whistle, so it was not goaltending. Doesn't matter that people stopped. They thought the whistle came after the putback. So the basket counted. So what where they reviewing if it wasn't a goaltend?"
Crew chief Rodney Mott explained the call after the game to reporters: "The ball hit the rim, so it was deemed an inadvertent whistle because it was ruled a good block. By rule, it's an inadvertent whistle. It's Rule 2. Because he (Collins) was in his shooting motion when my whistle blew, it's deemed a continuation, so therefore, the basket counts."
"Refs have bad games," Cuban continued. "Crews have bad games. But this isn't a single game issue. This is the same s--- that has been going on for 20 years. Hire former refs who think they know how to hire, train and manage. Realize 2 years later they can't. Repeat."