If Mavs protest, what are the chances the Warriors lose their big victory in Dallas?
Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has threatened to file a protest of the Warriors’ 127-125 victory Wednesday in Dallas
By BUD GERACIE |
bgeracie@bayareanewsgroup.com, MADELINE KENNEY |
mkenney@bayareanewsgroup.com and SHAYNA RUBIN |
srubin@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group
PUBLISHED: March 23, 2023 at 3:33 p.m. | UPDATED: March 23, 2023 at 3:36 p.m.
The Warriors’ victory in Dallas was still standing at the end of business Thursday, and it likely will withstand a threatened protest by Mavericks owner Mark Cuban.
Cuban had 48 hours to file an official protest of the Warriors’ 127-125 victory Wednesday night. That gives him until the end of business Friday, or perhaps a few hours more, coinciding with the final buzzer of Wednesday night’s game.
If a protest is filed, both teams will have five days to present evidence to support its side of the argument. Commissioner Adam Silver will make a ruling within five days of receiving the evidence. There hasn’t been a successful protest since 2008, according to ESPN and the Associated Press.
At issue is a play late in the third quarter that gave the Warriors an uncontested basket in a game that ended with a two-point margin. Coming out of a timeout, the Warriors inbounded the ball under the Dallas basket while the Dallas players, all five of them, were at the opposite end of the floor, thinking it was their ball.
Cuban, who had told ESPN during the telecast that he would protest the play if Dallas lost by two points, took to Twitter after the game.
“The ref called Mavs ball,” he wrote. “The announcer announced it. Then there was a timeout. During the timeout 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 basket. 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.”
The Mavericks’ protest will be based on one of the game officials causing confusion by not alerting players and coaches who had the ball, according to The Athletic.
Sean Wright, chief of the officiating crew, said it was always the Warriors’ ball, the call was never changed.
“Initially on the floor, the original signal was in face Golden State ball, as this can be seen on video,” Wright told a pool reporter. “There is a second signal, but that signal is for a mandatory timeout that was due to the Mavs.”
The Warriors got few chuckles out of it all, along with the free basket. Coach Steve Kerr said it was the best after-timeout play he’d drawn up all season.
“It worked brilliant,” he said, “just the way we got organized and confused them.”
The truth is, Kerr initially was confused too.
“I had to stop and think, ‘Wait, aren’t we — isn’t this our basket?’ Because I had drawn up a play for an … underneath baseline out-of-bounds,” he said. “And when they were down at the other end, I had to stop and think, ‘Is this right.'”
Jordan Poole, the inbounder on the play, took note of all the Mavericks at the wrong end of the floor and emphatically urged the official to give him the ball. The instant it happened, Poole passed to Looney for the uncontested dunk.
“Probably the easiest two points Loon’s ever had and easiest assist JP has ever had,” Steph Curry said.
“I was just glad JP passed to me…I needed that to get to my double-double,” said Looney, who finished with 12 points and 12 rebounds.
The controversial win gave the Warriors the a playoff tiebreaker with the Mavericks and Golden State consecutive road wins for the first time this season. The Warriors hold a putrid 9-29 road record, but hold the No. 6 seed in the Western Conference.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2023/03/23/ ... in-dallas/