Mark Cuban went on Twitter to criticize the level of NBA officiating following the Dallas Mavericks' 111-107 loss to the Atlanta Hawks.
Cuban was upset by a play late in the game in which John Collins putback Dorian Finney-Smith's block shot. The initial goal-tending call on Finney-Smith was overturned after a review, though the refs counted Collins' shot due to an "inadvertent" whistle.
"So they call a goaltend. They literally blew the whistle that it was a goaltend. There was a putback after the whistle. After review they said no goaltend but count the basket? WTF is that? That's NBA officiating," tweeted Cuban.
Cuban then criticized the system for producing what he perceived as incompetent refs for 20 years.
"Refs have bad games. Crews have bad games. But this isn't a single game issue. This is the same s--- that has been going on for 20 years. Hire former refs who think they know how to hire, train and manage. Realize 2 years later they can't. Repeat." Cuban added.
Crew chief Rodney Mott explained the call after the game.
"The ball was blocked and reviewed. The ball hit the rim, so it was deemed an inadvertent whistle because it was ruled a good block. By rule, it's an inadvertent whistle. It's Rule 2. Because he (Collins) was in his shooting motion when my whistle blew, it's deemed a continuation, so therefore, the basket counts," said Mott.