The NBA’s Wednesday night match-up against the Golden State Warriors and Dallas Mavericks at the American Airlines Center was anticipated to be a crucial game for both the teams. With Luka Doncic’s return from a thigh injury that kept him out for 5 games, Mavericks were looking to solidify their position in a bunched-up Western Conference table. Not to mention, the winner of this game would have a tie-breaker advantage over the other.
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The game went down to the last possession and the Warriors emerged victorious beating the Mavericks by 2 points. The highlight of the game, however, was the out-of-bounds play in the third quarter with 1:54 remaining on the clock. An apparent communication mishap between the referees and the Dallas team led to an open bucket for Kevon Looney.
Needless to say, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban was furious with the officials and took to Twitter to explain Dallas’ side of the story. He goes on to say that he would be protesting the result with the league office. The crew chief Sean Wright maintained his position on the call and defended his team. However, Undisputed analyst Skip Bayless believes Mark Cuban could have a valid point. Listen to what he had to say:
Mark Cuban tweets on the officiating flub
Dallas Maverick’s owner Mark Cuban is known for his outspoken criticism of the referees over the years. Since taking control of the Mavericks, the billionaire has been fined multiple times for expressing his feelings on alleged mistakes during the game. Wednesday night proved to be no different. Here is what Mark tweeted right after the game:
“For those wondering about the play with 1:54 to go on the 3rd, let me explain what happened. 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,” writes Cuban. “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.”
Post which, he also expressed his intent to file a protest with the NBA’s league office over the loss suffered. As per NBA guidelines, he is entitled to do so within a 48-hr window from the completion of the game. Warriors would get a chance to responde to the claims post which NBA would provide a decision within 5 days.
So what actually happened during the game?
In the 3rd quarter, with 1:59 left on the clock, the ball is knocked out of bounds by Justin Holiday while trying to retrieve it from Kevon Looney. The referee Andy Nagy is seen to grant the out-of-bounds play to Warriors and immediately goes on to point to the Mavericks bench for a timeout.
This quick change of direction from the young referee seemed to confuse Looney as well. When Looney confronted him, he explains the decisions taken. Meanwhile the Dallas Mavericks are under the impression the call has been made in their favour. Mark goes on the claim that the announcer at the arena confirmed the possession to be with the Mavericks.
After the timeout, the warriors line-up to inbound the ball whereas the Mavericks are on the other side of the court. What followed next was a set of unprecedented events starting with Jordan Poole passing the ball to Looney for an open dunk and the mavericks team standing there dumbfounded.
Skip Bayless believes Mark Cuban has a point
Though Mark Cuban’s hatred for Skip Bayless is well-documented, the undisputed analyst sees merit in the protest while speaking to Shannon Sharpe on the show. Skip believes the crew chief – Sean Wright, could have paused the game on watching Dallas out of position and cleared the confusion. Instead, he continued the play leading to an open warriors basket. That’s crucial 2 points that ended up being the difference at the end.
Skip also quotes Jason Kidd’s post-game interview explaining Michael Smith, one of the referees of the game, was also confused during the sequence. Smith allegedly had lined up on the other end of the court in an apparent move to start the inbound play for Dallas.
It’s unlikely that this protest would prove fruitful but rest assured the producers of TNT are ready for their next Shaqtin’ a fool segment.
