NBA denies Dallas protest over uncontested Warriors basket

DALLAS — The NBA on Thursday denied a protest by the Dallas Mavericks over a confusing sequence that led to an uncontested basket for Golden State in a two-point win by the Warriors.

The league said the Mavericks weren’t deprived of an opportunity to win because the sequence happened with almost 14 minutes remaining and Dallas led after the basket.

While the NBA acknowledged officials could have managed the situation better, that wasn’t enough for the “extraordinary remedy” of upholding the protest.

Kevin Looney had an uncontested dunk off an inbound play after a timeout for a 90-87 Golden State lead in the third quarter of the Warriors’ 127-125 victory on March 22.

The Mavericks went into the timeout thinking they had possession after official Andy Nagy pointed in Golden State’s direction for possession but then quickly pointed to the Dallas bench to indicate a timeout.

Looney protested when Nagy pointed toward the Dallas bench, but Nagy appeared to explain that he was signaling the timeout. The public address announcer said Dallas was awarded possession.

After the break, the Mavericks lined up on their offensive end, giving Looney the easy dunk with no defenders around. Dallas contended officials could have disallowed the basket and let Mavericks defenders get in position of the inbound play.

Dallas owner Mark Cuban said after the game he planned to protest and posted on Twitter he thought the sequence was the “Worst officiating non call mistake possibly in the history of the NBA.”

The NBA said Cuban posted inaccurately on Twitter that officials had awarded possession to the Mavericks and changed the call during the timeout. The league said Dallas acknowledged in its filing of the protest that officials had awarded the ball to Golden State.