Mavericks owner Cuban fined for criticizing referees

Feb 3, 2012, 18:14 GMT

Los Angeles - Outspoken Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban was fined 75,000 dollars by the NBA on Friday for criticizing the referees in Wednesday's night's 95-86 Mavericks loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder.

'Look, I haven't said a whole lot about the officiating in a long, long time, but I haven't seen it this bad in a long, long time,' Cuban told ESPN Dallas.com.

Cuban was complaining about the crew of Ron Garretson, Michael Smith and Mark Ayotte.

'Guys miss calls; that's part of the game. You're not always going to have a great crew. Officials have got to learn that's part of the game. But these were officials that have been part of the league for years, and it was just off-the-charts bad. And if no one ever says anything, nothing ever happens,' said Cuban.

Cuban, who has been fined more than one million dollars for criticizing referees over the years, is concerned about inconsistency throughout the lockout-shortened season.

'I mean, it's just ridiculous,' he said. 'Something needs to be done; someone needs to stand up and say something. So here I is.'

The league also fined frustrated Dallas coach Rick Carlisle 35,000 dollars for kicking the ball into the stands and hitting a young boy in the floor seats over a non-call by the referees.

After getting ejected, Carlisle walked over and apologized to the boy before leaving to a standing ovation at the American Airlines Center. He then opened his post-game news conference by apologizing for his actions.

'I want to apologize to our franchise, Mark, our fans,' said Carlisle, the current president of the NBA coaches' association. 'The incident where the ball got kicked into the stands - that can't happen.

'My intent was not to kick it into the stands, I was trying to kick it to the referee, but I'm not a very good kick. But that can't happen; the officials made the right call on that one. That's a regrettable situation.'