Carlisle: Ref apologized, matter's in 'the past'
DALLAS — Rick Carlisle said Thursday that referee David Jones apologized to him for Wednesday’s interaction with point guard Deron Williams and that the Mavericks coach considers “this matter in the past.”
Carlisle delivered the message to several reporters in a text message.
“With the League’s permission, referee David Jones contacted me today to apologize for the situation that developed with Deron Williams last night,” Carlisle said in the text. “I accepted his apology and told him that I now consider this matter in the past.”
On Wednesday night, Carlisle accused Jones of entering the Mavericks’ huddle during a timeout to bait Williams into a technical foul.
“For the first time in a 33-year NBA career, I saw a referee make a point of going out of his way and walking into our huddle and baiting one of our guys into getting a technical,” Carlisle said after Wednesday’s 102-96 loss to the Detroit Pistons, which extended the Mavs’ losing streak to a season-worst four games. “I’ve never seen anything like that in my years in this league. I don’t see how that can ever be excusable.”
After Jones approached the Mavs’ huddle, he said something to Williams and walked away. Williams then took a few steps toward Jones and said, “What’s up?”
Williams was whistled for the technical foul at that point with 7 minutes, 33 seconds remaining in the third quarter.
Detroit’s Reggie Jackson missed the free throw, so the technical did not impact the outcome of the game, but Carlisle brought it up without prompting during his postgame news conference.
Jones, who is in his 26th season as an NBA official, declined to speak to a pool reporter because of confusion with the process of making the request.
Williams opted not to discuss the details of the confrontation that led to his technical, which was his first of the season.
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