Dallas Mavericks cry 'refs' in season-defining loss to the Golden State Warriors
The Dallas Mavericks lost a season-defining game to the Golden State Warriors, and after, Mark Cuban made the loss about the refs.
DALLAS — The Dallas Mavericks had an opportunity to control their fate with a win over the Golden State Warriors on Wednesday.
That win never came. The Mavericks lost 127-125. And in a near-predictable fashion, Dallas blamed the refs instead of looking inward at the lack of defense and the proclivity to miss opportunities to claim critical stops.
Mark Cuban, the Mavericks owner, took to Twitter to vent his frustration. And it was reported after the game that the Mavs planned to file a formal protest for the game following the out-of-timeout confusion in the third quarter.
Out of the timeout, the Mavericks believed it was their ball. The refs signaled that it was the Warriors' possession, handing the ball to the Warriors to inbound. As a result, Dallas wasn't defending its basket and Golden State claimed an uncontested dunk.
Cuban, in a long-winded tweet, shared the events from his perspective. He claims the Mavericks were never told that it wasn't their possession.
"For those wondering about the play with 1:54 to go on the 3rd, let me explain what happened. The ref called Mavs ball," Cuban wrote on Twitter. "The announcer announced it. Then there was a timeout. During the time out the official changed the call and never told us. Then when they saw us line up as if it were our ball, he just gave the ball to the warriors. Never said a word to us They got an easy basketball. Crazy that it would matter in a 2 point game. Worst officiating noncall mistake possibly in the history of the NBA. All they had to do was tell us and they didn't."
The refs responded by offering their side of the story, where they explained that they signaled the Warriors ball, despite Dallas claiming it had no idea the direction of the possession.
"Initially on the floor, the original signal was in fact Golden State ball as this can be seen on video," the official pool report read. "There is a second signal but that signal is for a mandatory timeout that was due to the Mavs."
Following Cuban's Twitter rant, it was reported that the Mavericks were going to take the grievance up with the league, officially.
This decision is so contentious because the Mavericks lost by two points and the team feels like that call changed the direction of the game.
Following the decision to file a formal protest, Dallas will pay a $10,000 protest fee, which is refunded if a decision in the organization's favor is made. Dallas then has five days to gather evidence to present to the league commissioner Adam Silver. And once the evidence is received, Silver has five days to make a decision. If a decision is made in favor of the Mavericks, the game will be replayed from the point of the infraction (88-87 Warriors, 2:00 3Q).
Whether the league sides with the Mavericks or not is beside the point. In the most important game of the season, the Mavs ran to refs to explain the loss rather than examine what they could have done better. When put in context with the complete Mavericks season, full of disappointment and blame-shifting, it feels pretty fitting.
