James Harden was called for one of the eight technical fouls in an NBA game that turned tense when Dallas's Australian centre Andrew Bogut received a flagrant foul on a hard screen that staggered Houston's star guard.
Despite 34 points and an easy 123-107 victory that completed a four-game season sweep of the last-placed Mavericks on Tuesday night (Wednesday AEDT), Harden wasn't happy.
"That other team was trippin' tonight, just disrespectful, unprofessional, players and coaches," Harden said. "I don't know what was their problem, but I think that got us going. They wanted to throw a little cheap shot and just woke us up a little bit and it was over from there."
Bogut was equally frustrated in his return after missing 11 games with a right knee injury. The call came in the second quarter, near the end of a 16-0 Houston run that broke a 37-all tie. Harden doubled over after running head-first into the 2.13 m, 118 kg Bogut's shoulder.
"If you watch the replay, yeah, he made no effort to run around my screen," said Bogut, who had a couple of sharp verbal exchanges with Harden. "Yeah, it was a hard screen and I set hard screens. But to get a flagrant for it is kind of head-scratching.
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"You admire the effort the league's putting in in Secaucus (New Jersey) with that beautiful facility where they watch replays and watch TV and have leather chairs and all that kind of stuff. But you scratch your head at a lot of these things and it becomes very, very frustrating."
Trevor Ariza was ejected after his second technical during the break after the third quarter, when five technicals were called. After the game, he was waiting outside the Dallas locker room for Mavericks centre Salah Mejri.
Security had to make sure the pair didn't interact after an exchange during the game that led to Ariza's first technical. Houston was called for five and Dallas three.
Harden had 24 points at halftime and finished with 11 assists without playing in the fourth quarter.
The Mavericks had their projected starting five for just the fourth time, and first since a 128-90 loss at Cleveland on November 25. The lineup is winless. Bogut and Nowitzki, in his third game back from his latest absence for a sore right achilles tendon, stayed in the locker room at halftime. Bogut went scoreless with six rebounds in 10 minutes, and Nowitzki scored seven points.
Elsewhere, Joe Ingles hit a three-pointer with 21.6 seconds remaining to give Utah a 102-99 lead against Los Angeles Lakers.
The Jazz went on to win the game 102-100. Ingles scored 13 points in the contest and was three-from-six from beyond the arc, as he continued his NBA-best three-point shooting acuracy.
In Miami, Russell Westbrook got his 15th triple-double of the NBA season and the Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Miami Heat 106-94 to extend their winning streak to four games.
Westbrook finished with 29 points, 17 rebounds and 11 assists. He was two rebounds shy of having registered the triple-double by halftime, and now has six before the end of third quarters this season.
Enes Kanter scored 19 and New Zealand centre Steven Adams added 15 - including a highlight-reel dunk in the first half - for the Thunder.
In Boston, Avery Bradley scored 23 points, Isaiah Thomas had 21 points and seven assists, and the Celtics held off the Memphis Grizzlies 113-103.
