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Mavericks owner Mark Cuban slams officials after Hawks loss: ‘This is a management issue’

Mark Cuban was not happy on Saturday night.

The Dallas Mavericks owner, following the team’s 111-107 loss to the Atlanta Hawks at State Farm Arena, made that fact very clear.

Cuban lit up the league and its officiating crews on Twitter shortly after their loss.

“This is a training issue,” Cuban said, via Brad Townsend of the Dallas Morning News. “This is a management issue. Is it as bad as back in Dairy Queen? It literally could be worse.”

Cuban’s biggest issue with the game came in the final seconds.

Atlanta guard Trae Young, while up two points with less than 10 seconds to go, attempted to put up a shot but was blocked by Dorian Finney-Smith. Play was stopped, however, as officials called the block a goaltend. As that happened, though, Atlanta forward John Collins grabbed the rebound and put it back in the hoop.

Officials reviewed the play, and later determined that it was not goaltending, but that Collins had still scored.

“The ball was blocked and reviewed,” head official Rodney Mott said after the game, adding that the original call on the floor was a goaltend. “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 Two. Because [Collins] was in his shooting motion when my whistle blew, it’s deemed a continuation, so therefore, the basket counts.”

Dallas coach Rick Carlisle was extremely confused by the call, too, and said he wasn’t given a “sufficient” explanation on the court.

“I’m not sure what happened on the call,” Carlisle said, via the Dallas Morning News. “Goaltending was called, the whistle blew, players stopped — and then the basket was good, after the whistle had blown, which is hard to fathom.”

After the game, Cuban slammed the officials in a series of tweets.

He kept going, calling out what he views as a poor overall training system. He even called out certain officials by name.

Cuban may have a point about the officiating. His team, however, still put itself in that position on Saturday night.

Dallas blew a double-digit lead in with 10 minutes left and simply couldn’t stop Young in the final quarter — who dropped 13 of his 25 points in the fourth quarter and either scored or assisted on 19 of their final 27. The Mavericks were without Luka Doncic and Kristaps Porzingis, who had led them to a 16-point blowout win against the Orlando Magic on Friday. Given how they started the night, however, the game was by all accounts a winnable one.

Either way, Cuban can expect to see a fine handed down by the league in the coming days.

In a series of tweets, Dallas owner Mark Cuban ripped the officiating from the end of the Mavericks' loss to Atlanta on Saturday night.
In a series of tweets, Dallas owner Mark Cuban ripped the officiating from the end of the Mavericks' loss to Atlanta on Saturday night. (Todd Kirkland/Getty Images)

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