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The NBA doesn't hand out sympathy the day after a close loss. They do hand out fines for tossing a ball into the stands.
Dwight Howard received a $25,000 fine after lightly tossing a ball into the stands in the direction of a heckling fan. The incident occurred with 2:54 seconds left in the game.
Watch the incident for yourself here. Howard doesn't put much power behind the ball. In fact it appears like he's tossing the ball to a referee:
Howard's frustration in this moment is most likely generated by the referees and not the fan. In the closing minutes of the game, Howard couldn't get a foul call on numerous offensive rebounds.
It was a dumb decision. At the end of the night we can't say this technical foul cost us the game, we were done in by several other mistakes after this.
The internet of course had a reaction. Bleacher Report's Adam Fromal went so far as to call Howard a villain:
Howard needs to control himself going forward. There are a number of teams out there who aren't big fans of his, and he isn't exactly the most popular player in the NBA. Between his indecisiveness leaving the Orlando Magic, his ridiculous season with the Los Angeles Lakers and the ensuing Dwightmare Part 2, his image took a 180-degree turn.
Gone is the goofy, gregarious big man who wore a Superman cape at the NBA dunk contest. In his place now is a villain, at least in the minds of many NBA fans.
Dude got frustrated and lightly tossed a ball. There's no reason to defend everything Howard has done in his career, but I assume Mavericks fans said "Awesome, a free point while we're rallying" not "Dwight Howard makes the entire NBA angry."