Los Angeles—Dallas Mavericks leading scorer Luka Doncic, who has been the target of some over-the-top physical defence from opposing teams this season, says NBA officials are not calling the fouls.
Several times this season Slovenia’s Doncic has been left bloodied from stray limbs to the head and Sunday’s 112-109 loss to Indiana was another example.
“They hit me in the face, and that should be a foul,” the 21-year-old Doncic said after the loss to the Pacers. “They should look at it. I think the rule is when you get hit in the face, they’ve got to look if it’s flagrant or no, right?
“Like I said, I was hit in the face three times.”
Doncic’s comments echo those of Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle, who spoke out about the physical abuse earlier this season in an attempt to get the officials to protect their franchise player.
“They are beating the shit out of him,” Carlisle complained.
Doncic, the league’s sixth leading scorer, finished with 36 points on Sunday. In the fourth quarter he was bleeding the mouth from an elbow he took from Indiana’s Victor Oladipo. No foul was called on the Pacers.
“He can’t hit me in the mouth!” Doncic shouted at the official.
“They didn’t care,” Doncic said after the game. “It was clear. Everybody saw.”
Doncic had to have X-rays at halftime after being kneed in the jaw by Pacers guard Edmond Summer following a pump fake. Summer was given a foul on the play.
As Doncic walked through the tunnel towards the locker room after the game he was overhead saying the Mavs are “playing five against eight (adding the three refs) every game now.”
Doncic has also been on the losing end of several run-ins this season with Los Angeles Laker Dwight Howard. In December, Doncic suffered a head injury after getting tangled up with Howard and hitting his head on the floor.
He left the game but got a rude welcome upon his return in the second half as Lakers JaVale McGee appeared to poke him in the eye.