Steve Kerr found it amusing that the Dallas Mavericks were planning a protest after the Golden State Warriors defeated them 127-125.
The owner of the Mavericks, Mark Cuban, alleged that it was the “worst officiating non-call mistake possibly in the history of the NBA,” but Warriors coach Steve Kerr was sure that nothing was wrong.
Late in the third quarter, the Mavericks called a timeout and claimed the game officials had informed them they had the ball.
With 1:56 remaining in the third, a referee decision caused Warriors centre Kevon Looney to dunk unopposed off a pass from Jordan Poole, bringing the score to 90-87.
The Dallas players were not in position, leading to protests from Cuban and coach Jason Kidd, but the dunk stood.
Kerr teasingly said it was his season’s standout ATO – after timeout.
“Number one, it was my best ATO of the year. It worked brilliantly, just the way we got organised and confused them,” he said.
More seriously, he added: “I had to stop. When I saw them at the other end, I had to stop and think, ‘Isn’t this our basket?’, because I had drawn up a play for an out-of-bounds [play] underneath, a baseline out-of-bounds.
“When they were down at the other end I had to stop and think, ‘Is this right?’.
“I don’t know what happened. You’d have to ask their side. I thought it was pretty clear that it was our ball and 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.“
Looney, who benefitted from the confusion, said: “I didn’t know what was going on. I’m just glad JP passed to me because I needed that to get to my double-double.”