If you’re a Dallas Mavericks fan today you now have irrefutable evidence that an NBA referee cost your team Game 3 of its Western Conference semifinal playoff against Denver.

You know this to be true because the NBA stunningly admitted that the officials blew a crucial call at the close of the Nuggets’ 106-105 victory on Saturday.

Said Joel Litvin, the league’s president of basketball operations: “At the end of the Dallas-Denver game, the officials missed an intentional foul committed by Antoine Wright on Carmelo Anthony, just prior to Anthony’s 3-point basket.”

And because the officials missed Wright twice bumping Anthony, the Nuggets forward cruelly swished the game-winner in front of the Dallas bench with one second to play.

Had they called the foul — and the Mavs had a foul to give — Denver would have been forced to throw the ball inbounds again, probably with less than four seconds to go.

This doesn’t mean the Nuggets might not have hit the winner anyway. But it does mean the script would have changed, no matter who won.

But here’s a question for those who blame officials every time their favorite team loses: Is knowing you were robbed a good thing?

Would you rather believe without factual evidence that your heroes were robbed? Or would you rather know the refs blew it because someone in authority issues a statement confirming your suspicions?

For instance, would St. Louis Cardinals baseball fans have slept better the past 24 years Major League Baseball had issued a statement that umpire Don Denkinger blew a call at first base in the ninth inning of Game Six of the 1985 World Series against the Kansas City Royals?

Denkinger ruled Jorge Orta safe when replays later showed he was out and the Royals went on to overcome a 1-0 deficit, tie the Series at three wins each and win Game Seven the following night.

But lost in all the hysteria was the fact that a blown call earlier in the game had cost the Royals a run. No one ever recalls that KC’s Frank White was mistakenly called out on a steal in the fourth inning. Had he been safe, he would have scored one batter later on Pat Sheridan’s hit.

So even if ref Mark Wunderlich had whistled Wright for the foul against Anthony, the Nuggets might still have won. That should never be forgotten.

And the NBA’s sudden transparency regarding officiating is as much damage control as New Age thinking, since it wants to put the Tim Donaghy scandal behind it as quickly as possible. The former NBA ref is now in prison for betting on games he officiated.

Nor does everyone believe Wright’s foul was as clear-cut at live speed as it might have been.

On Sunday night’s TNT telecast of the Boston-Orlando game, Charles Barkley noted, “(Wright) didn’t foul him hard enough.”

A few hours before that game Celtics coach Doc Rivers made sure his team understood the importance of leaving no doubt about such a foul, telling the Celtics, “The wrap-up also takes longer than raking a guy across his arm (as Wright attempted with Anthony). And it reduces the chance he can get off an attempt and get three foul shots.”

Still, as Barkley’s studio partner Kenny Smith noted, “Nine-hundred and ninety-nine out of 1,000 times they’re going to call that foul.”

But Wunderlich didn’t call it on Saturday. He swallowed his whistle and the rim swallowed Anthony’s shot to give the Nuggets a 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven series, all but ending the Mavs’ season.

So is it better to know or suspect that your team was robbed?

Said Dallas forward Dirk Nowitzki on Sunday: “If I was the league, I wouldn’t say that. I don’t think it makes anybody feel better. We don’t get the last seven seconds back to kind of play it over again. More than anything, I think it made it worse.”

Tell us what you think. E-mail me your thoughts on whether or not you’d like to know if a referee definitely blew a call to cost your team a win. Please include full name, place of residence and a daytime phone number and we’ll run selective comments at a later date.

E-mail Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com

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