Should This Ref Get Fired For Cheating The Hawks? (Video)

The Dallas Mavericks defeated the Atlanta Hawks 118-117 on Wednesday night. It proved to be somewhat controversial.

Atlanta found itself down one with 4.7 seconds left and time for one last shot to win it. During the inbounds play, Trae Young was tripped and fell to the ground. Ultimately, Danilo Gallinari ended up taking the last shot for the Hawks and missed.

After the fact, Young was livid.

Trae Young was HEATED after not getting a foul 😡 pic.twitter.com/H71UEDElQg

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) February 11, 2021

After the outing, crew chief Josh Tiven offered this statement regarding the play to the media.

“In the game the contact between Young and Cauley-Stein was deemed incidental and therefore we didn’t have a whistle on the play,” it read. “After reviewing the play postgame we still feel that a no-call was the correct decision.”

That didn’t sit well with Young.

“The play was for me to get the ball,” he said after the game.  I’m not gonna run away from the ball with 4 seconds left and we’re trying to win the game. I’m not gonna fall just to fall. That’s just the most frustrating part. Not having an opportunity make a play at the end,” the Hawks star shared.

Hawks head coach Lloyd Pierce was similarly irritated.

“It’s really unfortunate that the game ended that way,” he said. “Trae sets a great screen. It should have been a foul. We should’ve had the basketball after the free throw on the side. Just disappointed with the way that game ended.”

Egregiously bad, game-changing officiating has become commonplace in the NBA, so none of this should come as a surprise. That said, the last time the Hawks went on a losing run the team imploded and players in the locker room turned on Young, so hopefully the lasting ramifications this time around are less severe.

Young finished with 25 points and 15 assists for the day. With the loss, Atlanta moved to 11-13 on the year.

The Bucks owner’s daughter decided to bring 2021 in with a bang by stripping all her clothes off. https://t.co/UgzhEEna4o

— Game 7 (@game7__) January 7, 2021

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Carlos Garcia

A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.