The NBA has dismissed the Dallas Mavericks’ protest over the team’s two-point loss to the Golden State Warriors on March 22.
The protest was filed after confusion over who possessed the ball on an out-of-bounds play out of a timeout that resulted in two easy points for the Warriors late in the third quarter.
Both teams thought that they had the ball because of confusing signals from the referees, which allowed Golden State to score uncontested as the Mavericks were lining up on the other end of the court.
The Mavericks formally filed a protest with the NBA following the game, and the league released an official ruling upon the conclusion of the investigation Thursday.
“The NBA today denied the Dallas Mavericks’ protest of their 127-125 loss to the Golden State Warriors on March 22, 2023,” the statement began.
“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,” the statement continued. “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 protests — that it was deprived of a fair opportunity to win the game, and the protest failed on that basis alone,” it further explained.
“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.”
The league has not had a successful protest since 2008, and ESPN reported that the Mavericks expected this outcome.
Had the protest been successful, the win would have been erased from the Warriors’ record, and the teams would have had to replay the final 14 minutes, according to NBC 5 DFW.
The Mavericks now turn their attention to the final two games of the regular season as they fight to secure a playoff berth.
Dallas currently sits in 11th place in the Western Conference, half a game behind Oklahoma City for the final play-in spot. The Thunder hold the tiebreaker and only have one game left, so the Mavericks must win their last two games to have a chance to make the field.
If the Mavericks win the final play-in spot, they become one of four teams vying for the final two spots in the Western Conference playoffs and would have to win two games in next week’s play-in tournament to qualify.
However, a loss in either Friday’s game against the Chicago Bulls or Sunday’s finale against the San Antonio Spurs eliminates Dallas from playoff contention.
The Mavericks and the Thunder each have a 5% chance of making the playoffs entering Friday’s game, according to FiveThirtyEight.