Carlisle disappointed Jefferson’s dunk didn’t count

DALLAS – It was one of the most celebrated and most talked about dunks – that never counted.

With 4:56 remaining in the third quarter of Sunday’s Dallas-Charlotte game, Mavericks forward Richard Jefferson drove extremely hard to the basket and promptly negotiated a monster dunk over Hornets forward Michael Kidd-Gilchrist. It was the type of powerful dunk that knocked Kidd-Gilchrist ferociously hard to the floor, wowed the American Airlines Center sellout crowd, and could have been a strong candidate for an ESPY Award.

However, Jefferson was whistled for an offensive foul on the play after officials ruled that he used his left hand to knock Kidd-Gilchrist’s hand out of the way. Jefferson and the Mavs, of course, screamed foul, but to no avail.

"That’s a jumping motion,’’ Jefferson said. "That’s a natural jumping motion for anybody.

"(Amar’e Stoudemire) dunked on me like that in like 2010. But I didn’t fall down. I stood my ground.’’

Coach Rick Carlisle had his own version of what happened to cause Jefferson’s dunk to be nullified.

"I saw it on the replay up there -- his left arm was up there a little bit,’’ Carlisle said. "It’s one of those ones if you go by the letter of the law it’s probably the right call.

"But it sure did (upset) a lot of people. I was disappointed – like the other 19,200 people.’’

This story was originally published February 23, 2015 at 8:07 PM with the headline "Carlisle disappointed Jefferson’s dunk didn’t count."