Dallas owner Mark Cuban intends to protest over last night’s confusing free bucket for Golden State

In last night’s victory over Dallas, the Warriors took advantage of a controversial play that granted a free bucket for Golden State, even though the Mavericks players were confused about how the officials handled the situation. 

Franchise owner Mark Cuban wasn’t going to let this one slide, and last night made sure the NBA knew he was going to procede in protesting this decision that eventually affected the contest’s result as the Mavs only lost by two points (125-127).

Mark Cuban ripped the NBA refs who officiated his team's game against the Warriors, accusing the crew of screwing up a critical call in a crucial game, potentially costing the squad a win. The Mavs are protesting the loss. https://t.co/8JfJBiN0sU

— TMZ Sports (@TMZ_Sports) March 23, 2023

In Cuban’s own word, this was the “worst officiating non call mistake possibly in the history of the NBA”, as he is convinced the referees forgot to indicate the Mavs players about their last call before the play.

“For those wondering about the play with 1:54 to go on the 3rd, let me explain what happened,” he started. “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.”

So, let’s recap on what happened from a neutral point of view. The Dallas squad though they had the ball after ref Andy Nagy pointed in the Warriors’ direction for possession, and then almost immediately pointed to the Mavericks bench for a timeout.

Golden State’s Kevin Looney then protested when the official pointed to the rival’s bench, and then explained to him it was a timeout, even though the public address announcer also said that Dallas was awarded possession of the ball.

After the break late in the third quarter, the Mavs squad had lined up to start an offensive play, as Looney simply scored the easiest uncontested layup of his career at the other end of the court.

Take a look at the play last night in the American Airlines Center and judge it yourselves:

The rest of the Mavericks squad were also left speechless after the play

Let’s start with Dallas coach Jason Kidd, who considers that official Michael Smith must’ve thought the Mavericks had possession because he was on the same end of the floor as his team.

“There was quite a few people out of position,” the trainer said. “It’s correctable, but you first have to admit there was a mistake.”

As for the crew chief Sean Wright mentioned that the refs never indicated that the Mavericks had possession of the ball. “Initially on the floor the original signal was in fact Golden State ball as this can be seen on video,” Wright told reporters. “There is a second signal but that signal is for a mandatory timeout that was due to the Mavs.”

Not even Looney knew what was going on at that point, as rival Luka Doncic was subbed out during that timeout and he was coming in for Stephen Curry. His teammate Jordan Poole simply passed him the ball and the rest is history.

“I didn’t know what was going on,” the Warriors player said. “I’m just glad JP passed to me because all of us were open and I needed that to get to my double-double.”