Throughout Wednesday’s 127-125 loss to the Golden State Warriors, the Dallas Mavericks appeared to make an egregious blunder by not defending the opposing basket, resulting in a straightforward two factors for Kevon Looney.

The play occurred within the third quarter however turned out to have a vital impact on the sport’s end result contemplating the scoring margin, and Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium reported that the Mavs will file a proper protest to the NBA with a deal with the “alleged referee mistake” that led to the botch by the gamers.

After the sport, Mavs proprietor Mark Cuban took to Twitter to supply a proof, saying the referees misinformed the workforce concerning the ensuing possession:

“The ref referred to as Mavs ball. The announcer introduced it. Then there was a timeout. Through the outing the official modified the decision and by no means informed us. Then once they noticed us line up as if it had been our ball, he simply gave the ball to the Warriors. By no means mentioned a phrase to us. They received a straightforward [basket]. Loopy that it could matter in a 2 level sport. Worst officiating non name mistake presumably within the historical past of the NBA. All they needed to do was inform us and so they did not.”

Nevertheless, crew chief Sean Wright mentioned within the Pool Report Interview that the preliminary name was for Golden State, and the sign for the Mavs was in reference to a timeout.

“Initially on the ground, the unique sign was in actual fact Golden State ball, as this may be seen on video,” Wright mentioned. “There’s a second sign, however that sign is for a compulsory timeout that was as a result of Mavs.”

Warriors head coach Steve Kerr additionally disputed Cuban’s rationalization, saying there was no query on Golden State’s aspect as to whose ball it was.

“I assumed it was fairly clear that it was our ball, and that is why I used to be drawing up a play out of bounds on the baseline,” Kerr told reporters. “All of them lined up on the different finish. I assume they assumed it was their ball.”

Dallas wasted one other herculean effort by star level guard Luka Dončić, who completed with 30 factors, 17 assists and 7 rebounds in 41 minutes. It was his first sport again after lacking the earlier 5 contests with a thigh harm. Rookie guard Jaden Hardy poured in 27 factors off the bench within the absence of Kyrie Irving, who sat out with proper foot soreness.

The loss dropped the Mavs (36-37) to ninth within the Western Convention. Because the common season winds down, Dallas is trending within the mistaken path.