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USATSI

The Dallas Mavericks were flying high in the third quarter of their playoff opener against the Los Angeles Clippers. After falling behind 18-2, they went on to outscore the Clippers 69-48 over the next two quarters or so to build a 71-66 lead over the heavily-favored No. 2 seed. All it took to steal their momentum was a brief altercation between star big man Kristaps Porzingis and Clippers forward Marcus Morris. Porzingis, who had already been assessed a technical foul in the first quarter, was called for a second and ejected. 

The Clippers went on to outscore the Mavericks 52-39 with Porzingis out of the game and won 118-110. The broadcasting crew, the fans and even fellow players like LeBron James were apoplectic. The overwhelming consensus was that Porzingis did not deserve to be ejected, especially in a playoff game. When asked after the game if he felt he deserved to be tossed, Porzingis himself agreed that he didn't. 

"No of course not. Of course not," he said, before accepting his own fault in the situation. "I understand, we got into it a little bit. I saw him getting into Luka's face, I didn't like that, that's why I reacted. That's a smart thing to do from their part. I've just gotta be smarter and control my emotions next time, especially on the first one. I understand the second one, but the first one, even though I felt like it was a clean block, they're probably going to call that tech for throwing a hand every time. So I've just gotta be smart and not let my emotions get the better of me."

Teammate Luka Doncic, whom Porzingis was attempting to protect by jumping into the scuffle, firmly had his co-star's back. 

"KP had my back," Doncic said. "He did it for me, he did it for his teammate. He had my back, and not just me, the whole team appreciates that. I don't think it was fair to kick him out of the game, especially in the playoffs."

It's too early in the series to say anything definitive about the impact the ejection had as a whole. If the Clippers dominate the next few games, it will be a moot point. But underdogs don't have much leeway in fighting for upsets of this caliber. Stealing Game 1 given Dallas a much easier path. Now they'll have to beat the Clippers four times out of six in order to escape the first round, and it's because of officiating more than their own play. Deserved or not, that is always going to be disappointing in games of this magnitude. Nobody wants to see officials swing playoff games.