The Dallas Mavericks have filed a protest with the NBA in hopes the league office will allow the team to re-play the final 9.7 seconds of Saturday’s game against the Atlanta Hawks amid a controversial ending. The Hawks won the game, 111-108, after a confusing ruling on a late bucket by John Collins that sparked a passionate rant directed at the referees by Mavs franchisee Mark Cuban.
The Mavericks’ protest of the Hawks’ controversial win, explained
Dallas is lobbying the NBA to re-play the final 9.7 seconds of Saturday’s loss to the Hawks. Here’s why:
Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images
Ricky O'Donnell has covered basketball at all levels for more than a decade at SB Nation. He’s currently the Associate Director of Programming.
The Mavericks are not the first team to file a protest this season. The Houston Rockets lobbied for the league to re-play the final eight minutes of a December game against the Spurs after the refs blew an obvious call on what should have been a James Harden bucket. The league ultimately denied the protest.
Will the Mavericks have better luck? What exactly is everyone so upset about? What did Cuban say? This is everything you need to know about the bizarre ending to Mavs-Hawks.
The Mavericks don’t believe Collins’ put-back should have counted
The Hawks were leading by two points with under 10 seconds left when Trae Young drove to the basket for Atlanta. Young’s shot was blocked by Dallas’ Dorian Finney-Smith, and Collins hit the offensive glass for a put-back bucket. The issue here is the refs initially called Finney-Smith for goaltending. The play was challenged and ultimately reversed.
The Mavericks are wondering why a play that was blown dead can still be allowed to end in a bucket after the whistle.
Here’s a look at the play:
The refs said it was an inadvertent whistle
Rodney Mott, the crew chief for the game, explained the call to reporters after the game (via ESPN):
”The ball was blocked and reviewed,” Mott told a pool reporter. “The ball hit the rim, so it was deemed an inadvertent whistle because it was ruled a good block. By rule, it’s an inadvertent whistle. It’s Rule 2. Because [Collins] was in his shooting motion when my whistle blew, it’s deemed a continuation, so therefore, the basket counts.”
Dallas thinks the game should re-start with a jump ball
Since the goaltending call on the floor was overturned, the Mavericks are arguing the game should be re-started with a jump ball with 9.7 seconds remaining and Atlanta leading by two. This would give Dallas the opportunity to still tie or win the game at the end of regulation.
Cuban lit into the officials after the game
Cuban can expect a hefty fine once the NBA concludes its review (it has five days to make the ruling). Cuban lit into NBA officiating while the game was going on and once it ended.
Here’s Cuban’s rant:
Rick Carlisle was upset, too
Here are the comments from the Dallas head coach:
The refs missed more than one call in the game
Cuban and Carlisle weren’t just upset about Collins’ put-back. The second half in particular was marred by several controversial calls that went against Dallas. Here’s another one:
One team was always going to be unhappy with the final call
The biggest issue with the end of the game was that the refs missed the goaltending call on Finney-Smith. If the refs correctly rule that as a block initially, Collins’ put-back isn’t controversial. There was no one around him when he scored and the inadvertent whistle didn’t prevent Dallas from boxing him out.
At the same time, it sure is odd to have a play blown dead while counting what comes after it. It isn’t an easy decision for the NBA.
The Mavericks likely would have won this game outright if not for their decision to rest both Luka Doncic and Kristaps Porzingis on the second end of a back-to-back. With the loss, Dallas fell to No. 7 in the Western Conference playoff race. That might have something to do with why Cuban is so upset.
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