Mark Cuban Says "Good Chance" Mavericks Win Protest Filed Over Loss To Hawks
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - Mark Cuban isn't letting the fact that he is the most fined individual in NBA history stop him from speaking his mind about the officiating at end of his team's loss against the Atlanta Hawks last Saturday night. Cuban voiced his displeasure on Twitter after an inadvertent whistle allowed Hawks center, John Collins, an easy shot at the rim to increase Atlanta's lead over the Dallas Mavericks to 111-107.
In a series of tweets, Cuban accused NBA refs of being sub-par for 20 years and questioned the league continuing to hire former referees to run officiating. Suggesting that someone with a management background might be more suited to the task.
The Mavericks then went on to file a petition against the ending of the game on Sunday, citing a "misapplication of the rules". The team is suggesting that the final 9.7 seconds to be replayed with the Hawks up 109-111 in the protest.
Cuban doubled down on his disapproval of NBA officiating and of the decision yesterday on SiriusXM NBA radio. He also said that he thought there was a "good chance" the team would win the protest and the final seconds of the game would be replayed. "Everybody presumes that there's no chance you ever win a protest, but I think we have a really good chance," Cuban said.
"I think we tell them that if it didn't impact the playoff standings, we don't care if we replay it or not, because there'd be no point to it," Cuban added. "But if it comes out the way we hope it will, they'll start the game from the 9.5 seconds left to go with a center-court jump ball and Mavs down by two."
This is not the first time this season a team has protested the end of a game due to officiating. The Houston Rockets protested the ending of their December 3rd matchup against the San Antonio Spurs. If the Mavs did win their protest it would be surprising, in total 35 protests have been filed in NBA history and only three have been upheld. The last coming in 2007, when the Heat protested a game against the Hawks.
Currently, the Mavericks are 7th in the Western Conference with 35 wins and 23 losses and are 10 games back from first place.
