NBA Denies Mavs’ Protest Over Loss to Warriors

The NBA has denied the Mavericks’ protest of a 127-125 home loss to the Warriors on March 22, the league announced in a press release.

“The Mavericks’ protest asserted that, with approximately two minutes remaining in the third quarter, the officials did not properly administer an out-of-bounds call and a subsequent throw-in that was followed by an uncontested basket by Golden State,’ the league wrote. “But the incident occurred with nearly 14 minutes remaining in the game, and Dallas thereafter took the lead twice in the final four minutes.

“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.”

The NBA also addressed Mavs owner Mark Cuban‘s explanation of the protest on Twitter.

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. Then when they saw us line up as…

— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) March 23, 2023

“Following the game, Dallas Governor Mark Cuban posted on Twitter that the officials had originally awarded possession to Dallas on the play and then during the timeout changed the call,” the league statement read. “Those public statements were inaccurate, and in its written submission in support of its protest, Dallas agreed that the referee signaled possession to Golden State.

“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 Mavericks (38-42) currently sit in a tie with the Thunder for 10th place in the Western Conference and the final play-in spot. OKC owns the tiebreaker.

Jason Kidd on the bizarre third-quarter sequence that gifted Golden State two points. pic.twitter.com/hQgkoEdbVT

— Brad Townsend (@townbrad) March 23, 2023