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Per Shams Charania of The Athletic, the Dallas Mavericks are set to file a formal protest of their loss to the Golden State Warriors.
According to a tweet by Mavs’ owner Mark Cuban, the officials changed a call during a timeout that was initially supposed to be Mavs ball due to a ball that went out-of-bounds that was touched by Kevon Looney.
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
The call was initially in favor of the Warriors, but was changed by the official to go the other way prior to the timeout. Per Cuban, that call was changed in the middle of the timeout without the Mavs’ knowledge, which led to the Mavs going back to play offense.
But since the call was apparently changed, the officials gave the ball to the Warriors with no Mavs player back on defense, which lead to a Looney bucket.
Here’s the call prior to the timeout:
And here’s what happened after the timeout:
The Mavs forgot to play defense pic.twitter.com/S6q9ByrTb7
— Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) March 23, 2023
Here’s the section from the official NBA rule book on protests:
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Historically, only 13.6% of filed protests in NBA history have been upheld, which means that the portion in question is to be replayed. The odds are not in the Mavericks’ favor.
UPDATE: Here’s the pool report concerning the sequence in question:
— Kerith Burke (@KerithBurke) March 23, 2023
According to the report above, the official pointing toward the Mavs’ direction after the call in favor of the Warriors wasn’t a changed call, but a gesture signaling for a mandatory timeout charged to the Mavs.
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