Atlanta Hawks’ Victory Over Dallas Protested, Final 9.7 Seconds Replayed?

Recapping the Mavericks’ request to replay the final 9.7 seconds of their Saturday loss to the Atlanta Hawks.

The Atlanta Hawks defeated the Dallas Mavericks 111-107 Saturday night, with the Hawks overcoming a double-digit deficit to do so.

The end of the game had a bit of a controversial ending. With the Hawks up two and with possession, Trae Young called an iso and attempted to ice the game with a driving lay up. The shot was blocked by Dorian Finney-Smith, but John Collins soared in for a quick put back.

While it originally didn’t seem to matter because of the Collins score, a bit of a late whistle by a ref denoted the block attempt as a goaltend. After a pretty lengthy review, it was decided that it was a clean block, which under most circumstances would mean a jump ball at half court.

Instead, much to the Mavericks’ confusion and dismay, the Collins putback was called as good anyway.

According to crew chief Rodney Mott, “”The ball was blocked and reviewed. 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.”

This explanation didn’t set well with Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, who took to Twitter to address his displeasure with the way the game turned out.

The team officially announced a protest of the game on Sunday, with hopes that the NBA would allow the two teams to replay the final 9.7 seconds, with the Hawks up two and starting with a jump ball.

The loss was big for the Mavericks, dropping below the Thunder to the Western Conference’s 7th seed Even though they look pretty locked into a playoff spot, this game could have a big difference on who and where they play in the playoffs.

The league is very unlikely to grant the replay, but it also wouldn’t be the first time something like this happened.

In a 2007 game also featuring the Atlanta Hawks, Heat center Shaquille O’Neal was incorrectly hit with his sixth foul, disqualifying him from the game. After it was ruled a mistake, the two teams replayed the final 51 seconds, with the Hawks winning both the original and replay.

That was directly before their next scheduled match up however, and  Dallas and Atlanta not being slated to play until next season only decreases the chances of a granted replay.

Dallas is the second team to file a protest this season, with the Houston Rockets requesting to replay the final eight minutes of a game they eventually lost back in December.  That was denied by the league office shortly after.

While the Mavericks will most likely not get a second crack at it, and the Hawks escape with their 17th win, most can agree that the NBA needs to be more transparent with their officiating.

We’ll keep you updated on the decision.