'Fire Nico' chants ring out amid Mavs' loss, overshadow Flagg's best game - ESPN

DALLAS — The Mavericks' 13-point lead had been sliced to one when the home crowd broke into the first «Fire Nico!» chants amid a surreal Monday night at the American Airlines Center.

The fans' calls for embattled general manager Nico Harrison's termination occurred multiple times throughout the fourth quarter, overshadowing No. 1 pick Cooper Flagg's career-high 26-point performance and the Milwaukee Bucks' 116-114 comeback win that dropped Dallas to 3-8.

The chant, which has been heard frequently at Mavs home games since the controversial Luka Doncic trade in February, first echoed throughout the arena during Dallas forward P.J. Washington's trip to the free throw line with 7:07 remaining. It was repeated during four Mavs trips to the line down the stretch, the final chant occurring after Washington missed the second of three free throw attempts with 1.2 seconds remaining and a chance to send the game into overtime.

Mavs governor Patrick Dumont did not visibly react to the chants as he sat courtside, attending a game for the first time since Dallas' blowout loss to the San Antonio Spurs in the season opener. Dumont spent several minutes early in the second half engaging in a cordial conversation with an 18-year-old fan who wore a gold Doncic Lakers jersey and approached to apologize for flipping off Dumont during the Oct. 22 opener.

«Everybody has an opinion, so everybody's entitled to that,» Washington said of the chants. «I mean, it is what it is. At the end of the day, we just got to come out here and do our job — and that's to be professional, play basketball and try to win each and every night. It is what it is at this point. Just got to keep moving forward.»

Several league sources have told ESPN that it seems to be