Admitted ref error might have cost Warriors game against Mavericks

NBA officials aren’t doing themselves any favors in the eyes of the Golden State Warriors players.

On first look, the Warriors loss at the hands of the Dallas Mavericks last Saturday night won’t turn any heads. Yet, one specific decision from the officiating crew drew the ire of Warriors players, coaches and fans in the moment, with Dubs supporters taking to social media to voice their frustration.

As it turns out, they had every right to do so. The officiating crew admitted to making a bad call against the Warriors in their two-minute report released early this week.

The report stated a ball which was initially called out on the Warriors, instead make contact with Dallas Mavericks big man Kristaps Porzingis before hitting the endline.

Per the report: “The ball bounces out of bounds and Porzingis (DAL) is the last player to touch the ball. Possession should have been awarded to GSW.”

The play in question was overshadowed by Luka Doncic’s deep dagger

While this remains an incredible shot from Doncic, the fact is it never should have happened in the first place. Porzingis made a great hustle play to save the ball from going out of play, but on further review, he made contact with the endline.

Review is the key word here, actually. Because there were less than two minutes remaining, and the play in question was possession related, there’s no excuse to miss this call to begin with.

The dagger from Doncic but the Mavericks up seven points with less than a minute remaining. Instead of facing just a double-digit deficit and potentially two (or more) possessions to play with, Golden State was basically out of options, even with the best shooter in NBA history in their arsenal.