The Dallas Mavericks hosted the Golden State Warriors on Tuesday evening, and the home team entered with a sense of urgency. Dallas lost four consecutive games in maddening fashion and, with the Warriors in town for a nationally televised contest, the lights were bright. The Mavericks responded by taking an immediate 23-6 lead out of the gate but, over the course of the game, the Warriors chipped away and the game was tightly competitive early in the fourth quarter.
With Dallas leading 94-91 with 10:52 remaining, Mavericks guard Spencer Dinwiddie attempted to drive against Warriors guard Jordan Poole, and Dinwiddie’s elbow connected firmly with Poole’s face. After a review, Dinwiddie’s act was upgraded to a Flagrant-2 foul that earned him an ejection.
Jordan Poole just took a mean elbow to the face pic.twitter.com/efc1aXUGMR
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) November 30, 2022
Dinwiddie seemed legitimately baffled by the ruling, laughing on the way to the locker room, and he exited with 14 points on 5-of-12 shooting in 23 minutes of work. Though Dallas only had to manage the final 11 minutes without him, the Mavericks do have a stark shortage of shot creators, with only Dinwiddie and Luka Doncic operating with high frequency on the ball. Beyond the on-court impact, though, it will be interesting to see if Dinwiddie has anything notable to say after the game, particularly if things sour for Dallas in crunch time.