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Mark Cuban slams NBA refs for not respecting Ellis

Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

Monta Ellis may have other issues to worry about after sustaining a calf injury in Friday's loss to the San Antonio Spurs, but his boss Mark Cuban has an issue with the way NBA referees treat the Dallas Mavericks' leading scorer.

Cuban sent out the tweet after seeing Ellis hit in the face by Tim Duncan without a foul being called during Friday's game, and later expounded on the topic to Tim MacMahon of ESPN. Cuban said he has sent the league a playlist of non-calls on Ellis this season, but to no avail.

I'm not allowed to say how many and what, but we literally have a playlist of all the calls of Monta getting smacked and no call. It's crazy. It's always the same: "Oh, it's incidental," or "It's not this, it's not that." ...  I'm not even expecting the league to change anything. I'm hoping fans, every time that happens, fans post a video of it so everybody can see it.

Cuban, of course, is no stranger to criticizing NBA officiating. He's been fined approximately $2 million by the league for various comments and actions since becoming Mavs owner in 2000. 

With Ellis, he appears to have a case. As cited by MacMahon, Ellis ranks 10th in the league with 609 drives this season, according to NBA.com's advanced player-tracking data. Conversely, he ranks 35th in free throws attempted.

It is understood that respect from referees in the lane must be earned, but considering Ellis' style as a player, he doesn't often get the benefit of the whistle. 

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