Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban sounded off on NBA officials after an inadvertent whistle and subsequent goaltending review late in the fourth quarter of his team's 111-107 loss to the Atlanta Hawks on Saturday.
With the Hawks leading 109-107, officials initially whistled Dorian Finney-Smith for a goaltend on Trae Young's missed layup. However, the play continued, which allowed John Collins to convert a putback attempt and increase Atlanta's lead to four points.
John Collins for the lead!#TrueToAtlanta pic.twitter.com/Z5FRmodiQ5
— NBA Hustle (@Hustle_NBA) February 23, 2020
Cuban took to Twitter postgame and had plenty to say about the play and subsequent review.
So they call a goaltend. They literally blew the whistle that it was a goaltend. There was a putback after the whistle. After review they said no goaltend but count the basket ? WTF is that ? That's NBA officiating.
— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) February 23, 2020
But wait there is more. 1 of the refs told us it was an inadvertent whistle, so it was not goaltending. Doesn't matter that people stopped . They thought the whistle came after the putback. So the basket counted. So what where they reviewing if it wasn't a goaltend ? https://t.co/FPnNy1mRKe
— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) February 23, 2020
And of course that comes after delon intentionally kicked the ball as he was getting thrown down to stop play. They don't , that's the play that would foul out maxi. https://t.co/s2v40xelLL
— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) February 23, 2020
Refs have bad games. Crews have bad games. But this isn't a single game issue. This is the same shit that has been going on for 20 years . Hire former refs who think they know how to hire , train and manage. Realize 2 years later they can't. Repeat https://t.co/GPqvvWSpuT
— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) February 23, 2020
In the past 12 years it's been Ronnie Nunn, Don Vaden, Bob Delaney , and now Monty Mccutcheon . What do they all have in common ? You know the definition of insanity ? https://t.co/GPqvvWSpuT
— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) February 23, 2020
Crew chief Rodney Mott explained postgame why Collins' basket counted.
"The ball was blocked and reviewed. The ball hit the rim (after Young's layup attempt), so it was deemed an inadvertent whistle because it was ruled a good block (by Finney-Smith)," he said. "By rule, it's an inadvertent whistle. Because (Collins) was in his shooting motion when my whistle blew, it's deemed a continuation, so therefore, the basket counts."
Cuban has been fined more than $2 million by the NBA since purchasing the Mavericks in 2000.