The NBA today denied the Dallas Mavericks’ protest of their 127-125 loss to the Golden State Warriors on March 22, 2023.
The Mavericks’ protest asserted that, with approximately two minutes remaining in the third quarter, the officials did not properly administer an out-of-bounds call and a subsequent throw-in that was followed by an uncontested basket by 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.
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.
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. 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 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.
