Last night the bad news for the Mavericks in Sacramento’s surprising win over Dallas. In addition to having lost the opportunity to consolidate their position in the Western Conference, they suffered the expulsion of Luka Doncic, for double technique.
This expulsion, which represents Luka’s fourteenth and fifteenth techniques this season, means that the Slovenian stay on the brink of automatic suspension. The NBA stipulates that after receiving 16 technical fouls, the player will be sanctioned with one match.
The match, which quickly heated up in the final minutes, saw how the referees unintentionally became protagonists. Rick Carlisle also received a technical foul in the final stretch of the game, although he was able to finish it.
According to the minutes of the meeting, Doncic’s first technique came by yelling at the referee, protesting a whistled offensive foul about the Slovenian.
The second technique was by throw the ball along the court in clear display of his frustration following an arbitration decision.
Doncic, who has struggled with techniques throughout the year, must have be careful between now and the end of the regular season to avoid suspension from the league if he wants to help the Mavericks maintain their playoff options.