‘Salt in the Wound’: Warriors Are Unhappy About the Bad Call by Referees in the Loss Against Mavericks

Saturday night was hard for the Warriors, who lost despite putting a great effort. The Mavericks marginally won the match 134-132 in a game that could’ve ended differently if only the refs had made the correct call.

Stephen Curry scored an astounding 57 points and dropped some of his most classic three-pointers to rule the court. However, it was a wasteful effort because he still failed to get a W for the team. So, what went wrong? Perhaps, nothing from the Warriors’ end.

NBA admitted a mistake that cost Warriors their match

With just 48.6 seconds remaining on the clock, the Mavericks were leading 128-124, when the ball bounced off Mavericks’ center Kristaps Porzingis.

Ideally, the referees must have called it a Mavericks turnover, giving the crucial possession back to the Warriors who could have bridged the gap. But the refs missed the call and Luka Doncic used the possession to dump a three-pointer that took them far ahead.

This one bad call flushed Steph’s 11 threes at 58% accuracy and instead gave Luka Doncic the best value for his 42-point double-double. Later in the post-game conference, a dejected Steve Kerr admitted he knew it was a miss but could not challenge because it wasn’t called on the floor. 

The live wire drama in the last one minute

Right after Luka Doncic’s 28-ft three on Maxi Kleber’s assist, the Warriors called a timeout. Coming back, Stephen Curry responded to Luka’s shot with his flawless 26-ft three on Draymond Green’s assist.

He followed it with a layup and then an FT to make it a one-point game at 130-131. However, a deep-range bucket by Maxi Kleber with 6 seconds remaining took away the victory from the Warriors. 

Now, this loss wouldn’t have hurt so much if this was 2017/18 or any of those Golden years. But, in 2020-21, the Warriors know that every single win counts if they are to qualify for the postseason.

After the loss, they have slipped to the 8th position, and they’d like to forget this episode and move ahead with positivity. With Steph playing big nights in almost every other game, they have their reason to stay optimistic.

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