The officiating crew in Wednesday’s 127-125 Dallas Mavericks loss to the Golden State Warriors drew the ire of Mark Cuban.
And the Mavericks owner sure didn’t hold back from letting his feelings known.
Cuban’s outrage came over an absolutely bizarre sequence to end the third quarter. Coming out of a timeout, the Warriors inbounded the ball in the front court, but the Mavericks were nowhere to be seen as they were down at the other end of the floor. It led to the easiest two points of Kevon Looney’s career.
Cuban attempted to explain on social what caused the Mavericks’ confusion and bashed the officials in the process.
“For those wondering about the play with 1:54 to go on the 3rd, let me explain what happened,” Cuban tweeted. “The ref called Mavs ball. 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 non call mistake possibly in the history of the NBA. All they had to do was tell us and they didn’t.”
Following the game, crew chief Sean Wright gave the officials’ side of the story in a pool report with The Athletic’s Tim Cato.
“Initially on the floor the original signal was in fact Golden State ball as this can be seen on video,” Wright said. “There is a second signal but that signal is for a mandatory timeout that was due to the Mavs.”
The Athletic’s Shams Charania reported the Mavericks “plan to file to the NBA a formal protest” over the alleged officiating blunder.
Those two points ended up looming large with the Warriors squeaking out a win and the Mavericks’ loss has ramifications in the tight Western Conference standings. Dallas currently sits in ninth place, just a half game ahead of the Utah Jazz, Los Angeles Lakers and New Orleans Pelicans while the Warriors are situated in the sixth spot.
