NBA Makes Official Decision on Mavericks’ Protest of Controversial Loss to Warriors

Two weeks following a bizarre play that cost the Mavericks during a two-point loss to the Warriors on March 22, the NBA announced Thursday it has denied Dallas’ protest of the game. 

The Mavericks took action after their 127–125 defeat due to a strange play in which, coming out of a timeout, Dallas incorrectly believed that they were in possession of the ball and set up on the wrong side of the court, leaving the Warriors unguarded on the other end. That led to an easy layup, which proved costly in the two-point defeat.

“The incident occurred with nearly 14 minutes remaining in the game, and Dallas thereafter took the lead twice in the final four minutes,” the league’s statement read. “Under these circumstances, Dallas was not able to show—as required under the standard for NBA game protests—that it was deprived of a fair opportunity to win the game, and the protest failed on that basis alone.”

After the game, Mavericks owner Mark Cuban lambasted the officials for their handling of the situation, calling it the “worst officiating non call mistake possibly in the history of the NBA.” Cuban alleged that the officials told the Mavericks before the play that it was their ball, though the league wrote in its statement that Cuban’s original description was inaccurate.

“The NBA concluded that although the game officials could have taken steps to better manage this particular situation, that did not provide a basis for the extraordinary remedy of upholding a game protest,” the league wrote.