Jason Kidd: Dallas Mavs Must 'Do Scouting Reports' on NBA Officials After Latest Luka Doncic Technical Foul

Luka Doncic got another quick whistle for a technical foul in Thursday's blowout loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves, and Dallas Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd says the team might have to resort to scouting officials in addition to opposing players.
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During Thursday's 119-101 blowout loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves, Dallas Mavericks star Luka Doncic received a quick technical foul in the first quarter after a play where he got fouled, but no call was made. After starting the season off well in the technical foul department, Doncic has now strung together a handful of games racking up a tech, putting him at seven on the season – one shy of Boston Celtics' Kristaps Porzingis' league-leading eight techs.

However, even though there has been an uptick in NBA officials giving Doncic techs, Mavs head coach Jason Kidd isn't concerned with the trend, and he just wants officiating crews to be consistent going forward.

"I'm not concerned. We all understand what that number is," Kidd said. "This one was quick. Every crew is different. We have to be better. But it was a quick T -- Jacyn [Goble] gave him a quick T. Again, we've just got to figure out what's right and what's wrong. The clap – a lot of players do it. Some are called for a T, some aren't. Just be consistent, that's all."

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Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

In addition, Kidd also believes the Mavs need to start 'doing the scouting reports' on officiating crews, not just opposing players.

"Yeah, we've got to probably do a better job of doing the scouting report on each official," Kidd said. "It's just part of the game, understanding who's quick to blow a whistle on a T and who's not. That's part of the game."

When compared to the restraint officials show to other players in the league, like LeBron James and Draymond Green, you would think Doncic could at least get a courtesy warning before he gets that whistle.

“That I can’t clap. I’m serious. It’s crazy,” Doncic said. “And they took away my 3. Like now you can go back? They said I was out of bounds. If the refs don’t call it they can go back and check? It was the first time I’ve seen that, so I don’t understand.”

After the Mavs led 33-26 with one quarter in the books, the officials went back and determined that Doncic stepped out of bounds on one of his made 3s earlier in the first quarter. From that point on, whether the call had anything to do with it, or rather it was just the Mavs’ fatigue from playing three games in four nights, the Wolves couldn’t be stopped.

Luka Doncic's 39-Point Night Not Enough as T-Wolves Snap Weary Mavs' Win Streak

In postgame Pool Report, an explanation was given for why Doncic received his technical foul in such a quick manner.

"After a no call, Luka overtly gestures by hitting his hand multiple times while yelling 'call the foul' and aggressively walking towards the official," Crew Chief Curtis Blair said.

When asked if Doncic had said anything prior to that technical that built toward it being called, Blair stated, "No, he did not."

There are several occasions where Doncic earns his techs, especially when he spends entire games complaining about no-calls or taunting opponents, but Thursday night wasn’t one of those occasions. Hopefully, with additional scouting reports on officials, as Kidd suggested, Doncic and the Mavs can avoid these situations going forward.


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Dalton Trigg
DALTON TRIGG

Dalton Trigg is the Editor-In-Chief for Dallas Basketball, as well as the Executive Editor overseeing Inside The Rockets, Inside The Spurs, All Knicks, and The Magic Insider. He is the founder and host for the Mavs Step Back Podcast, which is a proud part of the Blue Wire podcast network. Trigg graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi’s College of Business and Economic Development with a bachelor’s degree in entrepreneurship in 2016. After spending a few years with multiple Dallas Mavericks-related blogs, including SB Nation’s Mavs Moneyball, Trigg joined DallasBasketball.com as a staff writer in 2018 and never looked back. At the start of 2022, he was promoted to the EIC title he holds now. Through the years, Trigg has conducted a handful of high-profile one-on-one interviews to add to his resume — in both writing and podcasting. Some of his biggest interviews have been with Mavs owner Mark Cuban, Mavs GM Nico Harrison, now-retired legend Dirk Nowitzki and many other current/former players and team staffers. Many of those interviews and other articles by Trigg have been aggregated by other well-known sports media websites, such as Yahoo Sports, CBS Sports, Bleacher Report and others. You can find Trigg on all major social media channels, but his most prevalent platform is on Twitter. Whether it’s posting links to his DBcom work, live-tweeting Mavs games or merely giving his opinions on things going on with Dallas and the rest of the NBA, the daily content never stops rolling. For any inquiries, please email Dalton@MavsStepBack.com.