Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban's latest gripe with NBA officiating involves defensive three-second calls. Cuban believes referees are ignoring the league's direction to emphasize the violations.
"Somewhere along the line, officials have chosen not to call defensive three seconds," Cuban said after calling together a group of reporters following the Mavs' 98-95 loss to the Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday. "We've had games, multiple games already - the last one we turned in, the league agreed that they missed nine defensive-three calls. And these aren't, 'OK, it's 3.1, it's 3.2.'"
A bedrock rule, defensive players cannot stay in the paint for more than three seconds.
"These are six, seven, eight and, in one case, nine seconds of standing in there. Again, you probably heard us screaming and yelling from the bench and counting to five and six," he added.
Cuban was quick to point out that the league recently sent a memo saying it was emphasizing the rule, suggesting individual referees have chosen to neglect the calls.
"It's not a tough rule," Cuban said. "I don't know what's happened, but it's changed the game. We've even started to tell our guys, 'Just stand in the paint and don't move,' but some teams have figured it out before us. So it's just wrong."
There may be some merit to Cuban's point.
Watch Hawks center Al Horford linger in the paint during Wednesday's game:
On the flip side, the website nbasavant.com has tracked 133 defensive three-second violations this season, roughly the same pace as last year. Whether it's a long-term habitual drift away from calling the violation or not, Cuban - who has been fined approximately $1.7 million by the NBA over the years for criticizing officiating - is not pleased.
"Something's going on, and I have no idea what it is," he said.
