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The Dallas Mavericks dropped a crucial game against the Golden State Warriors on Wednesday night, losing 127-125. In a game as close as this one, every basket is important. So, the free two points that the Mavericks allowed the Warriors to score late in the third quarter sting just a bit more.
Golden State inbounded the ball underneath their own basket as Dallas set up their defense on the wrong end of the floor. The play resulted in a free dunk for Dubs big man Kevon Looney.
The Athletic’s Shams Charania later reported that Dallas would be protesting the loss because of the confusing play.
“The Dallas Mavericks plan to file to the NBA a formal protest of their 127-125 loss to the Golden State Warriors tonight, with focus on alleged referee mistake that led to two free Warriors points late in the third quarter, source tells @TheAthletic @Stadium,” Charania tweeted.
After the game, several members of the Warriors joked about the Mavs’ hilarious mishap.
“Number one, it was my best ATO of the year,” Warriors head coach Steve Kerr joked via NBC Sports Bay Area. “It worked brilliantly, just the way we got organized and confused them.”
He added that he was pretty surprised to see the Mavs set up under the wrong basket.
“When I saw them at the other end, I had to stop and think, ‘Wait, isn’t this our basket?’ ‘cause I had drawn up a play for an underneath, baseline out-of-bounds [play],” “When they were down at the other end, I had to stop and think, ‘Is this right?’ so I don’t know what happened, you’d have to ask their side.”
Kerr didn’t think that there was anything that would’ve confused Dallas about where the ball was supposed to be inbounded.
“I thought it was pretty clear that it was our ball, that’s why I was drawing up a play out of bounds on the baseline. But they all lined up at the other end. I guess they assumed it was their ball.”
Kevon Looney Was Glad to Log a Double-Double vs. Mavericks
The beneficiary of Dallas’ mistake also discussed the strange sequence after the game. Looney said that he was thankful that he got the easy two, which helped him log a double-double.
“I didn’t know what was going on,” Kevon Looney told reporters via NBC Sports Bay Area. “I’m just glad JP passed it to me ’cause all of us were open, I needed that to get my double-double. So thank you JP.”
Golden State’s iron man did indeed finish with a double-double. He tallied 12 points and 12 rebounds in the win over the Mavericks.
Stephen Curry Jokes on Mavericks Crucial Mistake
Warriors star Stephen Curry got in on the fun as well. Curry first broke down what he’d seen during the confusing play, as he watched from the bench.
“I was on the bench and saw the ref point our direction for the ball and then point the other way toward their bench to call a timeout,” Curry told the media via NBC Sports Bay Area. “Loon actually got a little confused at first because he didn’t hear the whistle for the timeout. but after that, it was pretty clear that it was our ball.
He then joked that Looney’s basket was the easiest of his career.
“[That was] probably the easiest two points Loon’s ever had and the easiest assist JP’s ever had. It was weird but it was clear what was going on from our standpoint.”
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