The struggling Mavericks did not get any help from the NBA on Thursday.
The league officially denied the team’s protest of their March 22 loss to the Warriors after a controversial third quarter play in which Golden State inbounded the ball and scored a lay-up with Dallas players on the other end of the court.
Mavs owner Mark Cuban took to Twitter after the 127-125 loss, arguing that officials changed a Dallas possession to the Warriors during a timeout, but never alerted his team.
“Never said a word to us. They got an easy (basket). Crazy that it would matter in a 2-point game,” Cuban tweeted. “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 NBA didn’t agree with Cuban’s take.
“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 wrote in a statement.
“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.”
NBA officials also pointed to the fact that the Mavericks still had a fair chance to win regardless of this particular play.
“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 protest — that it was deprived of a fair opportunity to win the game, and the protest failed on that basis alone.”
It’s the latest loss for the Mavericks, who have dropped seven of their last eight, including — officially —the games against the Warriors.
Cuban’s squad is now 38-42 and in 11th place in the Western Conference, behind the Thunder, who own an identical record but hold a tiebreaker between the clubs.
Dallas has two games remaining to claw their way into 10th and the play-in tournament, finishing the season at home with the Bulls on Friday and the Spurs on Sunday.
If the Warriors loss comes back to bite them, Cuban will certainly have a sour taste in his mouth heading into the off-season.