Carlisle suggests Griffin flopped on Barea shove
Rick Carlisle thinks Blake Griffin's theatrics likely played a part in J.J. Barea's ejection Thursday night.
While he didn't explicitly accuse the Clippers power forward of flopping, the Mavericks head coach suggested Griffin's reaction made it clear he embellished on the play.
"Watching Griffin's cat-ate-the-canary smile tells you the story of that play," Carlisle told ESPN's Tim MacMahon. "That's all you have to look at."
God damn JJ Barea does not fear death whatsoever pic.twitter.com/Qv9wzRXSic
— Rob Perez (@World_Wide_Wob) March 24, 2017
Carlisle wasn't the only one unimpressed by the call, as Dirk Nowitzki took a shot at the game's officials following the contest.
"Just weak," Nowitzki told MacMahon. "It's tough to tell these days in this league what's a flagrant 1, what's a tech. I'm lost, and I think so are the refs."
The loss of Barea didn't appear to hurt the Mavericks, as they went on to grab the 97-95 victory over Los Angeles.