A frustrating night on the floor carried over into the postgame press conference for coach Jason Kidd on Monday night following the Mavericks’ 116–106 road loss to the Timberwolves.
Dallas, playing in the second game of a back-to-back, trailed by as much as 21 points to a Minnesota team still without Karl Anthony-Towns and Rudy Gobert, who have missed the last 10 and three games, respectively. The Mavs’ already off night went from bad to worse in the second half after Kidd and Luka Dončić were ejected for getting into it with the referees over a no-call.
After the game, Kidd opened his press conference with a statement announcing that he would not be taking any questions because he didn’t want to lose any more money. He then told reporters Dallas needed to review the tape to figure out how to improve before abruptly leaving the table.
“Alright, I’m here because I have to be here,” Kidd began. “I already gave up money, so I don’t want to give up any more. So, no questions. We’ll go back and look at the tape, see how we can get better. They were a better team tonight, and we’ll go from there. Thanks for showing up.”
Kidd opting to decline his media session caps a rough night for the veteran coach and his team in what was Dallas’s 11th loss in 14 road games this season. The Mavericks are now 15–16 on the season and in 10th place in the Western Conference.
Dončić finished the game with 19 points, six rebounds, and seven assists, but the most glaring part of his night came with Dallas trailing 85–69 with two minutes left in the third quarter. The star guard argued with referee Rodney Mott after he felt he was fouled by T-Wolves forward Jaden McDaniels, leading to Mott tossing Dončić after issuing two technical fouls.
Kidd also appeared noticeably frustrated with the play and stormed onto the court to talk to the refs before he was ejected shortly thereafter. The ejection was the second of Kidd’s Mavericks tenure.
