Since purchasing a majority stake in the Mavericks at the turn of the millennium, Mark Cuban has been unafraid to voice his opinion when it comes to officiating in the National Basketball Association. He hasn’t cared about the fines or the consequences; he is as much a franchise owner as a fan in showing his reactions to what he perceives are bum calls. At one point, The Oregonian reported, he has even considered suing the league, going so far as to hire a former agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation to look into the actions of the referees throughout the 2006 Finals.
To be sure, Cuban is much more reserved on, but no less critical of, the state of officiating in the league these days than when he first took it by storm. He understands that concerns are often better conveyed out of the public eye, which can be effectively scathing but also inadvertently damaging. His objective, after all, is improvement, not regression. And when he subjects the most controversial aspects of competitive action to scrutiny, he winds up taking the shine out of the principal product from which his franchise stands to benefit. Once in a while, though, he just can’t help himself.
The other day, for instance, Cuban saw fit to question an ostensibly ridiculous use of existing rules that wound up affecting the outcome of the Mavericks’ road outing. Although the officiating crew overturned upon review a goaltending call on Trey Young’s layup, it let an ensuing basket by John Collins stand. The reason, as explained by chief Rodney Mott: “The ball hit the rim, so it was deemed an inadvertent whistle … Because [Collins] was in his shooting motion when my whistle blew, it’s deemed a continuation, so, therefore, the basket counts.”
The followup, made with 8.4 ticks left in the match, increased the Hawks’ lead to four and all but put the set-to out of reach. The result wasn’t what got Cuban’s goat, though. As he explained in a tweet, “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 outback. So the basket counted. So what were they reviewing if it wasn’t a goaltend?” Fair point, and one that should be the subject of speculation until commissioner Adam Silver rules on the Mavericks’ official objection filed yesterday.
Significantly, Silver will be looking at circumstances behind a given contest following a protest for the second time this season. Last December, he agreed with the Rockets’ contention that the game arbiters erred when James Harden’s dunk with 7:50 remaining in the fourth quarter, which went through the iron but ricocheted back out off the net, was not counted as a made shot. However, he refused to call for a replay of their double overtime loss to the Spurs, arguing that they still had enough time in the aftermath to shape the ending.
All things considered, Cuban has a point. And it’s easy to see why he’s bent on seeing his protest through on principle, as well as on practicality. The Mavericks are seventh in the West, comfortably ahead of the eighth-running Grizzlies, but just half a game back of the Thunder at sixth and still within striking distance of the second-place Nuggets. How things will go, though, is anybody’s guess. In any case, there can be no doubting his sentiments. “Refs have bad games. Crews have bad games. But this isn’t a single game issue. This is the same s — that has been going on for 20 years.” Enough said.
Anthony L. Cuaycong has been writing Courtside since BusinessWorld introduced a Sports section in 1994. He is a consultant on strategic planning, operations and Human Resources management, corporate communications, and business development.
