On March 23, Beijing time, the Warriors defeated the Lone Ranger 127-125, and there was a strange scene on the court with more than 1 minute and 50 seconds left in the third quarter of the game. After the timeout, all five of the Lone Rangers stood on their own offensive end, and the Warriors were unguarded when they served the baseline, and there was a 5-0 spectacle, and Looney unceremoniously dunked easily to score two points. This 5-on-0 scene caused a huge controversy after the game, what happened?
Cuban was publicly angry, and the Lone Ranger planned to protest to the Alliance
After the game, the lone ranger boss Cuban updated his social media and took the lead in attacking. He said of the situation, writing: "With 1 minute and 54 seconds left before the end of the third quarter, the referee first blew our ball, the announcer also announced, and then went into a timeout, during which the referee changed the ball to the Warriors, but they didn't tell us about the change. Then, when they saw us standing like we were ready to serve, he gave the ball straight to the Warriors. ”
"It's crazy in a game that is two points apart. It was probably the worst penalty in NBA history. All they needed to do was tell us, but they didn't. ”
Shams reported that the Lone Rangers planned to file a formal protest with the NBA, and the protest focused on the Warriors scoring two points comfortably on a 5-for-0 run due to referee errors.
The referee reveals the truth that there is no temporary change of the ball
Soon, the course of events changed. Wright, the referee on duty, explained the penalty after the game. When asked why he changed the ball, referee Wright replied: "The original penalty for that ball on the field was the Warriors' possession, which can be seen on video." There was indeed a second gesture at the time, but that gesture meant a forced pause on the Lone Ranger. ”
The video recording of the referee's decision at the time really proved their claims. From Cuban's interpretation, it is not difficult to find that the most likely cause of this oolong incident is that the announcer of the Lone Ranger's home stadium misinterpreted the referee's gestures, so he broadcast the wrong information and misled his home team.
The scene before 5 to 0 was exposed, and Poole caught the loophole
Rewatching the video in front of this scene reveals more truth. The referee's first gesture was to blow the ball to the Warriors, and the second gesture indicated that the timeout was credited to the Lone Ranger. At the time, the Warriors' Looney also misunderstood the referee's meaning. Looney only saw the direction of the second gesture, thinking that the ball was given to the Lone Ranger, and the referee explained to him that "this is the direction of the timeout", and then DiVincenzo on the bench also laughed at Looney.
At the same time, the lone ranger announcer on the scene also mistook the referee's meaning like Looney. They broadcast the message of "Lone Ranger's ball", causing the Lone Ranger's entire team to think it was their own.
After a timeout, Poole first chatted with the referee, and then he was astute to find that the other five players were on the field but went in the wrong direction (players can serve when they are all on the field), and hurriedly said to the referee "Give me the ball, give me the ball, give me the ball"! Soon, he assisted Looney to score two points!
Everyone responded, and Kiddoncic was dissatisfied with the referee's position
After the game, the Warriors and Lone Rangers responded to the incident. "I was on the bench and I saw the referee pointing in the direction of us, indicating that it was our ball, and then pointing to the bench of the Lone Ranger, meaning their timeout," Curry said. Obviously, that round was supposed to be our ball, but after the timeout, the Lone Ranger had no one to defend and that was probably the easiest two points, which seemed strange, but from our point of view, the penalty was relatively clear. ”
Doncic also spoke about the controversial award. Doncic said: "I think the referee was right at the beginning [the Warriors possession], but when we came back on the court after a timeout, another referee was on the touchline, on our side, and he probably thought it should be our ball. I was surprised, and to be honest I didn't know what was going on, I had never seen anything like it in my life. Clearly, Doncic's dissatisfaction with the position of one of the referees also misled the Lone Ranger.
Lone Rangers coach Kidd said: "There was a lot of controversy about that possession, and then I said to the referee: 'If it's controversial, you can easily blow a whistle to stop the game, explain it and start the game again.'" We thought it was our ball and the referee pointed to our bench, but it was a time-out, but at kick-off a referee was on our side and I asked him: 'If you don't think it's our ball, why walk in and stand on our side?' I think it can be corrected, but the referee has to admit that they made a mistake, but they don't admit it. ”
How costly are protests? It will be difficult for the Lone Ranger to succeed this time
Marc Stein reported that the Mavericks also protested after losing to the Hawks in February 2020, but were unsuccessful, and Cuban was fined $500,000 for it. In the final moments of that game, Trae Young was capped for a layup, but the referee blew the jamming ball while John Collins added the ball. After a replay, the referee determined that the ball was not a interference ball and that Collins' basket was valid. The Lone Ranger filed a protest with the NBA for "abuse of the rules," but it was dismissed.
It is worth mentioning that Marc Stein said that since 2008, there has not been a successful protest in the NBA. Separately, salary expert Bobby Marks later tweeted some details of the protest:
1. Protest requests must be made within 48 hours after the end of the competition
2. The protesting party is required to pay a fee of 10,000 US dollars, which will be refunded after successful protest
3. The Lone Ranger needs to provide evidence within five days
4. The commissioner responsible for handling the protest will make a ruling within five days of receiving the evidence
Judging from the truth of the above incident, this protest of the Lone Ranger is also expected to be difficult to succeed. Will they insist on protesting to the Union?