Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban pleas with NBA to make basket-interference calls reviewable - NBA Update
After his side lost an overtime thriller against the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday night, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has decided to approach the NBA Rules Committee in a bid change the rules to make basket interferences reviewable,
especially in the closing stages of a contest.
The particular play he appears to be talking about is when Matt Barnes appeared to have touched the ball before it went in on a Pau Gasol`s three point attempt from the corner.
However the case was not reviewed and it was ruled as a three which gave the Lakers a 103-101 lead with 3:49 remaining in overtime. The lead changed hands in the next several minute before the scores were all square at 106. However,
the Lakers went on to take control of matchup as they won it in overtime.
"Any potential basket interference in the last two minutes of a game or overtime should be reviewed," Cuban said he wrote in his email to the league. "I didn't bring up that play up at all. "You've got to make that reviewable.
You have to ask them to change the rule."
As the current rules stand, it is impossible for such call to be reviewed. However, Cuban seems to have made it his mission to ask the NBA to change the rule. He believes, that such missed calls can change the whole out-come of
the game. Had the case been reviewed at that time, Mavs would have maintained their lead in the match and who knows the eventual outcome of the match could have been something else.
Cuban who was sitting behind the Mavericks bench had a perfect view of the play. He later said, that Matt Barnes admitted to touching the ball before it went into the cylinder. Dallas Coach, Rick Carlisle agreed with the fact that
it was very obvious that the ball had been interfered with before it was ruled as a three.
"He touched the ball, it's clear on video," Carlisle said. "It's a missed offensive interference call and we should have maintained a one-point lead at that point."
It still is not clear as to how the NBA administration will respond to the case but Cuban remains adamant to the fact that they have to change the rule, sometime or the other.
The rule change might not take place immediately but these kinds of changes need to take place during the summer before the start of the season. If the NBA decides to change its point of view on such calls, it might turn out to
be a good step for the future as this could help out the officials in the task of calling the games in a fairer manner.
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