DALLAS — If you’re playing in a pick-up basketball game, one of your opponents (or teammates) may complain about the rim after they miss a shot. That’s not an issue in the NBA... usually.
But it was on Friday night, when the Mavericks played host to the Philadelphia 76ers. Midway through the first quarter, after making a shot, Mavs star Luka Doncic pointed out to the refs that their rim was crooked.
Mavericks center Boban Marjanović, who is 7’4”, came out and adjusted the rim by hand. Unfortunately, that didn’t do the trick.
After that, a maintenance crew tried to fix the crooked rim. After working for a few minutes, it was determined that the hoop, backboard and stanchion all needed to be replaced.
Fortunately, the Mavericks were prepared for such an event. One was wheeled out of the tunnel and onto the floor.
Once it was set to go, players were given five minutes to warm up before play resumed. The delay totaled to about 44 minutes.
During the delay, the Mavs' Twitter account decided to have some fun. The Mavs and 76ers accounts "played" a game of tic-tac-toe using emojis. There was no winner determined.
Doncic also added to the fun when he walked over to ESPN broadcasters and told them about the reason for the delay. He jokingly said it was "very, very bad." He then added that the broadcasters should post the interaction to TikTok.
