The NBA is admitting to another refereeing error that ended up swinging the outcome of a game.
The New Orleans Pelicans defeated the Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday night in a 119-116 nailbiter. The key moment of the game came in the final seconds of the fourth quarter when Mavs guard Spencer Dinwiddie, with his team trailing 117-116, got a layup opportunity in transition that would have given Dallas the lead. Instead though, the shot was swatted away by Pelicans forward Trey Murphy III before the rebound was collected by New Orleans to seal the game.
BLOCKED AWAY BY TREY!!! pic.twitter.com/2s9twzZ93Y
— New Orleans Pelicans (@PelicansNBA) January 16, 2025
But instant replay made clear that Murphy should have been called for goaltending on the play. Dinwiddie got the shot up and onto the backboard before Murphy touched it. Here is an angle showing the obvious goaltend.
@NBAOfficial @dallasmavs Thank the refs for this missed goaltend to end the game. Mavs robbed from a win. pic.twitter.com/fUBiIxaXum
— Miša (@MPAK05) January 16, 2025
In the official last two-minute report for the game that was released on Thursday, the NBA admitted as much. They ruled that Murphy blocked the shot after the ball had touched the backboard and thus should have been called for a goaltend.
NBA L2M report confirms that Trey Murphy should have been called for goaltending Spencer Dinwiddie’s layup. pic.twitter.com/P210YYyYEG
— Brad Townsend (@townbrad) January 16, 2025
Had the goaltend been correctly called, the Mavs would have gone up 118-117 with around five seconds left. While the Pelicans still had a timeout left to advance the ball and draw up a play, Dallas very likely would have won the game if not for the officiating error.
Though that was obviously a much tougher call to make in real time, one official (No. 50, Gediminas Petraitis) was right underneath the basket with a clear view of the play. The Mavs ultimately chose not to file a formal protest of the game and will instead just grin and bear the latest NBA officiating goof this season to directly cost a team a win.
