Mavericks Protest Loss to Hawks After Controversial Goaltending Call

The Dallas Mavericks have filed a protest after Saturday's loss to the Atlanta Hawks, citing a "misapplication of the rules," according to Marc Stein of the New York Times.

The controversy came on a play with 8.4 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter, when officials blew the whistle for an apparent goaltending before Hawks forward John Collins converted a putback. The basket counted, giving Atlanta a 111-107 lead that ended up being the final score.

Per Stein, Dallas wants to replay the end of the game with a jump ball with 9.7 seconds remaining. The league's L2M report did not detail the play, only noting the Mavs were protesting it:

Mavericks owner Mark Cuban complained about the officials after the game on Twitter:

"This isn't a single game issue," he added. "This is the same s--t that has been going on for 20 years."

According to Adrian Wojnarowski and Tim MacMahon, the NBA will wait on commissioner Adam Silver's ruling on the protest before deciding on a potential punishment for Cuban. In addition to his social media posts, Cuban could reportedly face discipline for coming onto the court multiple times during the game in dead-ball situations.

"We're going to review the matter in its totality," NBA spokesman Mike Bass told Wojnarowski and MacMahon on Sunday.

Crew chief Rodney Mott explained after the game that it was an inadvertent whistle, but the play should've still been allowed.

"The ball was blocked and reviewed," Mott said after the game, via ESPN. "The ball hit the rim, so it was deemed an inadvertent whistle because it was ruled a good block. By rule, it's an inadvertent whistle. It's Rule 2. Because [Collins] was in his shooting motion when my whistle blew, it's deemed a continuation, so therefore, the basket counts."

As a result, the Mavericks were down two possessions in the final seconds instead of one, leading to a key loss as the squad tries to fight for a playoff spot in the Western Conference.

The Houston Rockets filed a protest earlier this season when a James Harden dunk wasn't counted in a two-point loss to the San Antonio Spurs, but the NBA denied the protest.