Mavs/Pacers, ugh!

That was the kind of game last night that (a) soured me on the NBA and (b) made me feel embarrassed the Mavs won.
Stepping back, it wasn't all that bad of a game. The Mavs stayed in it, although behind, similar to the way they did against the Spurs last Friday. I told my wife that if they could just take the lead, things might fall into place from there and they could bag the game. Well, they did, but didn't. The Pacers did not allow the game to devolve into more than a teeter-totter game of lead changes and ties. That was good.
What was hard to watch was the officiating. Four plays stick out. I'm not sure if it was the play he fouled out on, but when the refs whistled Dampier for pushing O'Neal when they were fighting for a loose ball, I saw little contact. The ref made a bench-press-like signal, I suppose for pushing. Damp's hands appeared to be nowhere around, nor did I see much contact. The second one was that horrible no-call on Stack just below the free throw line. One of the Pacers clearly stopped his follow through. It was obvious in live action. No call.
On the other side, I saw nary a touch on Dirk from O'Neal on that call near the 3-point line. He might have grazed his jersey. Foul. The worst was the call that sent Jason Terry to the line for three free throws. It actually did look like a foul, but what the hell kind of maneuver was that Terry pulled off to sell the call? Like Quinn Buckner, who was the Pacers color commentator and former Mavs coach, said, "Where was he shooting that ball?" He ended up turned completely around as if he was shooting it into the crowd. Regrettably, it reminded me of Schnozz Ginobili.
That's what soured me, the way Dirk and Terry tried to sell those calls. Dirk got a lot of questionable calls and trips to the free throw line, but that phantom foul by O'Neal was the worst.