DALLAS — Sean Heath has been the Mavericks’ public address announcer for 14 seasons and is the first to admit that his thousands upon thousands of calls and announcements have not been error-free.
Fortunately, Heath says, in every instance in which he, for instance, thought he saw a referee hold up three fingers when it actually was four, he has been able to quickly announce a clarification. Usually it’s because one of the referees or someone at the scorer’s table corrected him.
Until Wednesday night, that is. Heath announced “Dallas ball” with 1:59 left in the third quarter of the Mavericks’ eventual two-point loss to the Warriors.
Unless you’ve been living in a cave without internet, you know what happened next: The Mavericks went to their bench for a timeout believing they would have possession of the ball.
Both teams exited their respective huddles and lined up in offensive sets. Golden State in-bounded the ball for an uncontested dunk. Confusion reigned. The Mavericks believe the referee crew should have stepped in and cleared up the confusion before allowing the Warriors to score a gift basket.
“It’s killing me,” Heath said Friday evening, shortly after arriving in American Airlines Center to work the Mavericks-Charlotte game. “Especially if those two points, and that loss, is one that keeps us out of the playoffs.”
Heath need not beat himself up because, as he has for 14 years, he called what he saw. But this time no one corrected him, even though Heath says that during the timeout he repeatedly asked scorekeepers and even called out toward the referees out on the court, who either didn’t hear him or heard and didn’t respond.
Here, from Heath’s perspective, is what happened:
Television replays show that referee Andy Nagy signaled Golden State ball by pointing toward the Warriors’ offensive end of the court. Replays also showed Nagy immediately after that pointed toward Dallas’ end of the court. Crew chief Sean Wright later said that Nagy was signaling Dallas timeout.
The problem is that Heath didn’t see Nagy signal Golden State ball because his view was blocked by Warriors coach Steve Kerr and center Kevon Looney. Also, Heath said, Nagy only blew his whistle once, rather than once while signaling Golden State ball and again while indicating Dallas timeout.
All Heath heard was one whistle and all he saw was Nagy pointing toward Dallas’ end.
Nagy signals that it’s Golden State ball and then he immediately turns and points to the Mavs because it’s a Mavs timeout.
“I announced ‘Dallas ball,’ ” very clearly,” Heath said. Still, ever vigilant about wanting to announce correct information, Heath wanted to be sure.
“I asked for clarification several times during the timeout and they (the referees) did not come over to the table once.” And none of scorekeepers said anything, either, even though Heath said “Hey, I need clarification.”
The next thing Heath knew, players had returned to the court and Golden State, to the shock of everyone in the building, got the easiest basket in NBA history.
“That’s why, if you can see my face on the replay, I’m like ‘What are we doing?’ ” Heath said. “That’s why I was so confused.”
Heath said he has replayed the events in his mind countless times.
“The thing that kills me is I don’t think I was forceful enough,” he said. “I should have said something on the microphone or something to get their (the referees’) attention and make them come over and clarify.”
Heath’s angst is understandable because he’s ever the professional, but, again, he called what he saw. But this time, for the first time in 14 years, no one corrected him.
