This was by no means the only contentious officiating-related incident that occurred during the game. The Mavericks received possession of the ball after it went out of bounds in the third quarter. Yet after a timeout, Golden State was given control without any justification. The Mavericks are appealing the game's outcome because the Warriors made an easy basket, which is a strange development.
Although the relationship between players and referees has always been shaky, it seems to have hit a new low this season. Guard for the Toronto Raptors Fred VanVleet recently called out official Ben Taylor by name and received a fine. Trae Young recently endorsed the idea that referees should be fined for making poor decisions, which was first put up by Anthony Davis. The officials have used their Twitter account to express regret for errors made during games at various points earlier in the season. Beyond that, VanVleet's critique of Taylor implied bias on his part. Similar problems have been reported by other players with various referees.
In the not too distant future, the NBA will need to deal with this issue. Although there can never be perfect officiating, the narratives that follow major matches have tended to center on a few questionable whistles. That's obviously getting on the players' nerves, and while the NBA can penalize them to stop such public protest, more needs to be done to address the underlying issues.
