For the second time in as many seasons, a Utah forward frustrated Dirk Nowitzki and drew a flagrant foul.

Last March, Nowitzki tangled with Andrei Kirilenko under the basket and drew a Flagrant-1 foul when Kirilenko was slammed to the court on his back.

On Friday night, Matt Harpring irritated Nowitzki to the point that he retaliated with a fist to Harpring's face. Nowitzki was ejected.

"It appeared to me that it was accidental, but they said his fist was closed so it's an automatic Flagrant-2," Mavs coach Rick Carlisle said. "They went and looked at the video and I said, 'What he did wasn't intentional.' He said it doesn't matter, just by the letter of the rule if there's a closed fist.

"I don't think the intent was to strike Harpring in the face. Dirk doesn't have any kind of pattern with that kind of stuff. It was microcosm of the night, really."