Loon, Dubs have funny reactions to Mavs' weird ATO sequence originally appeared on NBC Sports Bayarea
While Dallas Maverick's owner Mark Cuban used his Twitter fingers to express his frustrations with the bizarre ATO sequence in his team's loss to the Warriors on Wednesday, it was a different vibe in Golden State’s locker room.
The Warriors used jokes and humor to cope with the puzzling play that resulted in an easy basket for the defending champs in what turned out to be a two-point Dallas loss at American Airlines Center.
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“Number one, it was my best ATO of the year,” Kerr joked to reporters after the 127-125 Warriors win. “It worked brilliantly, just the way we got organized and confused them.”
After getting the jokes out of the way, Kerr tried to explain what had unfolded from his vantage point.
“When I saw them at the other end, I had to stop and think, ‘Wait, isn’t this our basket?’ ‘cause I had drawn up a play for an underneath, baseline out-of-bounds [play],” Kerr said. “When they were down at the other end, I had to stop and think, ‘Is this right?’ so I don’t know what happened, you’d have to ask their side.
“I thought it was pretty clear that it was our ball, that’s why I was drawing up a play out of bounds on the baseline. But they all lined up at the other end. I guess they assumed it was their ball.”
Meanwhile, the man who slammed his way into a double-double with the help of the strange play was just as confused as anyone, but thankful he was the chosen one out of Jordan Poole’s four options.
“I didn't know what was going on,” Kevon Looney told reporters postgame. “I'm just glad JP passed it to me 'cause all of us were open, I needed that to get my double-double. So thank you JP.”
Looney finished with 12 points on 4-of-5 shooting, while grabbing 12 rebounds and recording two assists.
Meanwhile, Warriors star Steph Curry had a pretty clear view of the whole thing from where he was sitting on the bench at the time. After the game, the reigning NBA Finals MVP shared what he saw play out.
"I was on the bench and saw the ref point our direction for the ball and then point the other way toward their bench to call a timeout," Warriors guard Steph Curry told reporters. "Loon actually got a little confused at first because he didn't hear the whistle for the timeout. but after that, it was pretty clear that it was our ball.
"[That was] probably the easiest two points Loon's ever had and the easiest assist JP's ever had. It was weird but it was clear what was going on from our standpoint."
After the ball went out of bounds off Mavericks forward Justin Holiday late in the third quarter, Dallas coach Jason Kidd called a timeout. The official pointed in the Warriors' direction, indicating it was the Warriors' ball but then pointed toward the Mavericks' bench when the timeout was called.
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It seems like the back-and-forth pointing resulted in the confusion, and when game action continued, the Mavericks forgot it was Golden State's ball and set up on the wrong side of the floor.
As a result, the Warriors made them pay with an easy bucket. Poole inbounded the ball to Looney who slammed in what might have been his easiest two points of his career.
The Mavericks reportedly plan to file a formal protest of the loss, and Cuban tweeted after the game that it might be the "worst officiating non-call mistake" in the history of the NBA.
