Dallas Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle was fined $25,000 by the NBA office for his comments criticizing the officiating following Thursday's loss to the Golden State Warriors.
"I spoke to the NBA office and agreed that I should be fined for my comments following the Golden State game," Carlisle said in a text message. "In this league we all have challenging jobs, and the job of the officials is one of the toughest. Those postgame remarks about the officiating were not appropriate, and I accept the fine."
The league did not announce a fine for Mavs owner Mark Cuban, who fired off a tweet that was critical of the officiating Thursday night and referenced the NBA's admission that the officials made an incorrect call with 1.5 seconds remaining in the Mavs' loss Tuesday night in Portland.
After the Mavs' 100-97 loss in Oakland, Carlisle complained about Warriors center Andrew Bogut's block of Brandan Wright's potential go-ahead shot with six seconds remaining, referring to the play as an "obvious" foul.
"We put ourselves in position," Carlisle said. "I don't know what you want to call it at the end. Unlucky? Whatever you want to call it. Screwed? It happened."
Cuban is not on this road trip with the Mavs, who blew a 21-point lead in a game vs. Portland, when a critical call went against Dallas in the waning seconds at the Rose Garden.
After video review the next day, the NBA office admitted that Mavs guard O.J. Mayo was incorrectly called for a charge. Mayo should have been granted two free throws because "Portland's Ronnie Price did not get his body directly in Mayo's path prior to him starting his upward shooting motion," according to an NBA statement.
"I'm disappointed and I'm very concerned," Carlisle said Thursday. "Concerned about what's happening at the end of games with the officials. I can only be honest."
Moments later, Carlisle added: "I've never been one to make it about the officials. So I don't want to wallow in this too much. But it's a fact that two nights in a row, miscalls have really hurt us, and I'm disappointed by it."
Cuban has been fined more than $1.5 million during his 13-year ownership tenure, mostly for publicly criticizing officiating, including $50,000 last month after tweeting that he had "tried for 13 (years) to fix the officiating in this league and I have failed miserably."