Mavs' protest of call, uncontested basket denied

DALLAS — The NBA denied the Dallas Mavericks‘ protest of their March 22 loss to the Golden State Warriors, the league announced Thursday.

Dallas protested the 127-125 loss because of their claim that the officials did not properly administer an out-of-bounds call with approximately two minutes remaining in the third quarter, resulting in an uncontested basket for Golden State.

“But the incident occurred with nearly 14 minutes remaining in the game, and Dallas thereafter took the lead twice in the final four minutes,” the league’s statement read, in part. “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.”

After the game, Mavericks governor Mark Cuban posted on Twitter that the officials originally rewarded Dallas possession and then changed the call during the ensuing timeout without notifying the Mavs.

“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 league’s statement said.

“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.”

Cuban admitted Wednesday evening that he anticipated the protest would be denied.

“It is what it is. They screwed up,” Cuban said. “It happens, but they’re not gonna replay it.”