NBA admits Mavericks were robbed of win vs Pelicans

On Wednesday night, the Dallas Mavericks had the perfect chance to snap out of their struggle-filled losing spell that has seemingly been going on ever since Luka Doncic strained his calf on Christmas Day.

Before last night's game, Dallas had gone 3-7 in their last 10 games, and things were seemingly getting worse by the game. The team was dealing with injuries and illness, and to make matters worse, Kyrie Irving missed six of these 10 games due to a back injury, shoulder soreness, and illness.

Irving returned for Tuesday night's game against the Denver Nuggets, and despite planning to play against the New Orleans Pelicans last night, he sat out. Both Dallas and New Orleans were shorthanded going into last night's game, but not even Irving could have saved the Mavs from what transpired at the end of the game.

With less than 10 seconds remaining in the game, Dallas was pushing the ball in transition with a golden opportunity to take the lead as they trailed 117-116. P.J. Washington delivered an excellent push-ahead pass to Naji Marshall on the left side of the floor, and Marshall found Spencer Dinwiddie diving to the rim for a layup. Dinwiddie put up a right-handed layup right at the rim, and after the shot had already hit the glass, Trey Murphy III blocked the shot.

NBA admits to missing goaltending call at end of Mavericks-Pelicans

This was a clear goaltending call, but the referees didn't call anything. This was one of the worst blown calls in recent memory, and since there wasn't anything called on the floor to begin with, the Mavericks couldn't challenge it (they also didn't have any timeouts).

Jason Kidd, someone who usually isn't too animated in press conferences, called out the referees when asked about the situation, saying "they didn't do their job tonight."

"The league wants to get it right, the referees have a tough job, they clearly did not get that one right," Kidd said. "It cost us the game."

Dinwiddie also spoke during postgame media availibility, explaining the intricacy of the layup that he took, saying that the way he shoots scoop layups is all calculated. He holds the ball far out in front of him to ensure he gets the ball to the glass quickly, and if a defender is able to get a hand on the ball, the shot would have already hit the backboard, resulting in a goaltending call.

Dallas does not plan on protesting this missed call, likely due to the complications that come along with it, and the NBA finally admitted that they were wrong once in the Last Two Minute Report from the game that was released on Thursday afternoon.

In the Last Two Minute Report, it stated that goaltending should have been called, as expected. The exact explanation of the play from the NBA was "Murphy III blocks the shot attempt after the ball makes contact with the backboard and has a chance to score."

The Last Two Minute Report also revealed that the referees missed another call in New Orleans' favor with 1:07 remaining in the game when Dejounte Murray "extends his off-arm into Gafford's head/face during the rebound." This means that two incorrect no-calls went against the Mavs within the last 67 seconds of the game.

The NBA admitted exactly what everyone who watched this game knew happened, and there is nothing that can be done about it now. This was one of the worst missed calls we have seen in a long time, and Mavericks fans remain furious that the NBA came out and admitted they were wrong, but couldn't do anything about it last night.

Dallas will have to move on from this brutal loss quickly, as they play the Oklahoma City Thunder at home tomorrow night.