Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images
The Dallas Mavericks and the Denver Nuggets are getting ready to square off for the third time this season. During the first two meetings, the road teams left with the victory.
The Mavericks are coming off a ten-point loss [119-109] to the San Antonio Spurs, while the Nuggets coming into today’s game after beating the Milwaukee Bucks 109-95 on Monday night.
Mavs All-Star Luka Doncic, after a 112-109 loss to the Indiana Pacers on Sunday, was irritated after not receiving a foul call when he was hit in the face by Pacers guard Victor Oladipo.
“They hit me in the face, and that should be a foul,” Doncic said. “They should look at it. I think the rule is when you get hit in the face, they’ve got to look if it’s flagrant or no, right? Like I said, it was hit in the face three times. Two of them was not a foul.”
The very next play, the Mavericks would foul Oladipo to stop the clock and put him on the line. Meanwhile, Doncic went over to the official to plead his case, but to no avail.
This morning I spoke with Denver Nuggets head coach Mike Malone and asked him they can continue to frustrate Doncic tonight on the defensive side of the ball. Since he has been complaining about calls all season.
“Whether Luka [Doncic] complains or not, that is not where we focus our energy. That is on him and the Mavs and whatever they want to do. We have to just play our game. We know he is great at drawing fouls and getting to the foul line that is one of the keys in guarding him. Which is limiting his free-throw attempts being disciplined and staying down on shot fakes,” said Malone. “Showing your hand on those types of things, but we have not defended at the highest of levels as of late. coming off a Milwaukee game where I really liked our defense and hopefully that defense can continue tonight. And obviously, Luka [Doncic], [Kristaps] Porzingis, [Tim] Hardaway, and the rest of their players present a difficult challenge for us.”