After the ball "suddenly forgot to defend", the Dallas Mavericks complained to the NBA
In a very important match in competing for a place on the Western rankings, the Golden State Warriors won with a score of 127-125, a spectacular "escape" from the club's American Airlines arena. Dallas Mavericks.
This defeat caused Luka Doncic and his teammates to drop to 9th place with a record of 36-37, while the Warriors firmly established 6th place in the rankings thanks to a total record of 38-36.
As the team that lost and also received defeat in an instant, the Dallas Mavericks side was extremely disgruntled. They directed criticism towards the referees who ran the game, especially in a ball that happened in the third half.
After the time-out, the Golden State Warriors players suddenly got the ball and scored into a completely empty basket. The reason was that the entire Dallas Mavericks players were on the other side of the field, thinking they were the ones in control of the attack.
First of all, let's review this half-baked, half-wedding ball below:
The lack of communication between the referee and the coaching staff of the two teams was pointed out by Dallas Mavericks owner billionaire Mark Cuban.
He said the referee confirmed the ball belonged to Dallas before the time-out, but then transferred possession of the ball to Golden State without notifying his team.
“While the two teams were talking, the referees changed their mind and changed possession of the ball. However, they did not inform my team," the owner of the Dallas Mavericks club shared.
“When all the Dallas players were on the upper court preparing to receive the ball for attack, the referee gave the ball to the Warriors and didn't tell us anything. Just like that, the Warriors have 2 easy points and in a game that ends with 2 points, that's unacceptable."
Mark Cuban claimed it was the worst mistake he's ever seen in NBA refereeing, adding that "all they needed to do was tell our team and they didn't."
On the NBA side, the game referee - Mr. Sean Wright - denied the allegations made by the Dallas Mavericks. He said from the beginning, the referee pointed in the direction of the Warriors' attack, implying that the ball belonged to Golden State.
Immediately after, the referee gestured towards the Dallas Mavericks technical area (which coincidentally coincided with Dallas' attack direction). Sean Wright explained that this was the act of announcing the Mavericks to a timeout, not the ball belonging to this team.
Sharing more about the incident, Dallas Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd said it seems the referees themselves made mistakes.
“It seems that the referees themselves did not understand each other, so this situation happened. If they explained it was the Warriors ball, the referee was in the wrong position, coach Jason Kidd told a press conference.
Around this funny ball, the members of the Golden State Warriors were also surprised. Coach Steve Kerr said he didn't understand what happened for a few seconds when he saw the entire Dallas Mavericks squad up in attack.
“I knew for sure the ball belonged to the Warriors, so when I saw them all standing in the upper court, I stopped and thought, 'Is there something wrong?' I even drew cards for the players to attack. so we know for sure we are the ones in control of the ball," said Warriors head coach.
Whatever the reason, the Dallas Mavericks still decided to complain to the NBA about the above situation. According to the process, the team representative will have to write an application to the tournament management board, pay a fee of 10,000 USD and provide a full video tape within 5 days. If the appeal is successful, the $10,000 fee will be returned to the team budget.
The last time the NBA received a complaint … also came from the Dallas Mavericks, related to the match taking place on February 22, 2020 against the Atlanta Hawks. At that time, the home team of the American Airlines Center had failed to appeal.
