The Dallas Mavericks’ bench has posed an issue for the NBA throughout the postseason, and video from Sunday’s game probably will not make the league very happy.
The Mavericks have received multiple fines from the NBA for violations of bench “decorum” during the playoffs, including standing on the court and in other prohibited areas during play. One allegation raised by Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr is that Mavericks reserve Theo Pinson, who does not dress for games, wore a white shirt that matched the Warriors’ uniform colors. According to Kerr, the shirt caused Pinson to mix in enough that Stephen Curry mistook him for a Warriors player and wound up passing the ball out of bounds.
Pinson wore a white shirt again for Sunday’s Game 3, leading to an interesting pregame exchange with referee crew chief Marc Davis. Davis was wearing a mic for TNT, so the network caught Davis asking Pinson if he could change his shirt.
“Do me a favor. This is crazy. Can you change your color shirt?” Davis can be heard asking. “It’s the same color as them and you’re going to be in the way. I’ll even buy it for you.”
Pinson seemed to either think Davis was joking or simply disregarded the request. The Mavericks reserve said he would do it if Davis followed through and bought him a new shirt, and Pinson could be seen on the sideline during the game wearing the same white shirt as before.
This is what Kerr complained about earlier Sunday, and the officials clearly took some notice of it. Ultimately, they couldn’t really do anything about it, though.
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