Vince Carter rips Mavericks for bizarre ATO miscue vs. Dubs

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It's becoming clear that the Dallas Mavericks were the ones who slipped up in the team's 127-125 loss to the Warriors on Wednesday at American Airlines Center. 

With 1:59 remaining in the third quarter and the game tied 87-87, Mavericks forward Justin Holliday dribbled the ball out of bounds, which resulted in the Warriors taking over possession after Dallas called an immediate timeout. The Mavericks then appeared to have forgotten it was the Warriors' ball coming out of the timeout, resulting in an inbound pass from Warriors guard Jordan Poole to center Kevon Looney for an easy score without a Maverick in sight. 

The odd play sparked confusion from the Mavericks' bench, specifically owner Mark Cuban, who tweeted immediately after the sequence what had happened from Dallas' perspective before the organization reportedly filed an official protest of the game later that night. 

Former Mavericks wing Vince Carter joined ESPN's "NBA Today" on Thursday, where he discussed the play, poking holes in Cuban's claim that Dallas believed the ball was theirs coming out of the timeout and immediately shut down the possibility of the Mavericks' protest being successful. 

"No chance. No chance," Carter said regarding the possibility that the game's outcome is overturned. 

The 22-year NBA veteran made an excellent point. Even if the Mavericks had thought the ball was theirs, why were they not in position to take the ball out after the timeout? 

"There was a lot of confusion and lack of communication on a lot of people's part," Carter added. "Even if you walk into the timeout thinking it's your ball, even if you do, you draw up a play for your team to take the ball out thinking it's your ball. If you notice when the team walked back on the court, the ball was out in front of the Golden State Warriors' bench, not one player is down there to take the ball out, even if you think it's your ball as a Dallas Maverick."

Not only were the Mavericks not prepared to take over possession, but if they truly thought the call went their way, Carter wonders why Dallas didn't say something to the officials when the Warriors were preparing to inbound the ball. 

"So the confusion also could have been handled if your down there taking the ball out and he's like 'Wait, it's our ball, you said it's our ball.'" Carter explained. "Their five guys were on the other end of the court. So where's the confusion? I would say there were a lot of mishaps there ... I didn't understand the point. You draw up a play, regardless of whether who's right and who's wrong, not one Maverick said 'hey wait, it's supposed to be our ball' or whoever is supposed to take the ball out, whoever that may be, never made it to that end of the court to take the ball out." 

RELATED: How GP2 already has made impact on Warriors before playing

The Warriors ended up winning by two points and the third-quarter miscue certainly looms large given how close the game was. 

Unfortunately for Dallas, it's becoming clear that they might not have much of a case to stand on. 

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