A closer look through the closing action between Golden State and Dallas.
The Golden State Warriors lost a heartbreaker on Wednesday night, falling 111-107 to the Dallas Mavericks, thanks in large part to a superstar performance from Kyrie Irving, and a few clutch baskets from former Warriors star Klay Thompson.
I think we can all agree that it was a poorly officiated game, with a few baffling calls and even an inadvertent whistle. Yet despite that, the refs did seem to call the game properly in the final minutes. And upon further review, the NBA agrees with that.
On Thursday, the league released the Last 2 Minute Report for all of the close games around the Association on Wednesday. Needless to say, the Warriors and Mavericks made the criteria for a close game. But after combing through the video, the officiating office decided that all of the calls and non-calls were correctly called and non-called.
That includes one of the biggest plays of the game. With the Warriors trailing by two points, Jimmy Butler III drove to the hoop and collided with Irving, who hit the deck as Butler’s floater dropped through the net. The whistle was blown with 17.6 seconds remaining, and an offensive foul was called. The Warriors challenged the call, as they had nothing to lose … had it been reversed, Butler would have had one free throw to give the Warriors the lead.
But the call was not reversed. And after a second review of it on Thursday, the league is standing by that, with the following explanation:
Replay review of the foul called on Butler III (GSW) pursuant to a coach’s challenge was deemed unsuccessful. Irving (DAL) establishes himself in a legal guarding position in Butler III’s path and absorbs the contact initiated by Butler III.
Hard to argue with that one!