The Batt?sai
Diamond Member
Nowitzki speaks mind about Cuban's antics
Dirk Nowitzki was going to shoot a fadeaway. Man, I was so sure of that.
The Mavericks were down three to the Spurs in the final, frantic moments of a Game 7 everyone expected would go San Antonio's way ? if only because Nowitzki had the ball.
He would stop his dribble. Pull up. Drive his body away from the basket with a feathery jumper that would amount to a cop-out move from a superstar once known to be Charmin-soft.
But Nowitzki did none of that. He took the ball to the hole with a vengeance, went up strong, and let Manu Ginobili defy direct orders by fouling the Dallas forward at the rim.
That was it, I thought. Nowitzki just made the transition from good to great. He had successfully imposed his will on Tim Duncan and the Spurs. At long last, he was ready to win a championship.
Only he didn't. His Mavericks blew a 2-0 NBA Finals lead to the Miami Heat in spectacular fashion, surrendering a 13-point lead in the middle of the fourth quarter of Game 3 and never seizing another night.
Nowitzki couldn't match the genius of Dwyane Wade, but his employer, Mark Cuban, was assigned a larger share of the blame. By trashing the officials and by basically playing the bench-side fool enough to earn another $250K fine, Cuban had unwittingly given his players an excuse to lose.
An owner can never, ever do that. Which is why Nowitzki was recently quoted in The Dallas Morning News ripping Cuban for ripping the refs.
Now I'm absolutely, positively, 100 percent sure Nowitzki is ready to win the title in 2007 that he should've claimed in 2006. He took his last necessary step as a leader-in-training when he confronted the man who pays him and fired hard from the lip.
Mavs owner Mark Cuban earned a $250,000 fine for criticizing the officials during the NBA Finals (Doug Benc / Getty Images)
"Do I think it's a bit much sometimes? Yeah," Nowitzki said of Cuban's act. "He's got to learn how to control himself as well as the players do."
Ouch.
"We can't lose our temper all the time on the court or off the court," Nowitzki continued, "and I think he's got to learn that, too. He's got to improve in that area and not yell at the officials the whole game. I don't think that helps us."
It had to be said for the record and despite the potential consequences. Nowitzki is up for a contract extension worth nearly $60 million, and he needed to put his mouth where his money is. He needed to show his heartbroken teammates, devastated by the finals collapse, that he's willing to go one on one with Cuban if it means helping the Mavericks' chances of redeeming themselves next June.
All in all, I like Cuban. I like what he's done with a loser franchise in a short period of time. I like the fact that he cares about his Joe Six Pack customers, that he remains accessible to them, and that he harbors more passion for the product and the result than any owner in sports.
But he killed the Mavs when he took his officiating tirade to Defcon 1. The not-so-subliminal message his words and deeds sent to Avery Johnson and the players went something like this:
The refs are against us. The league is against us. It's OK to lose now, because everyone can see this isn't a fair-and-square event.
Any time an owner gives his team a reason to give in, the team usually takes him up on it.
"We all know what Mark brings to the team, how he supports us," Nowitzki said. "We live with who he is, and we love him that way. But do I think it's good for us always? No."
It wasn't good for the Mavs in the finals, and someone had to grow the nerve to tell Cuban that he'd betrayed his own cause.
Nowitzki didn't just go public with his feelings; he revealed that he and Michael Finley and Steve Nash once asked Cuban to temper his courtside outbursts. Either that, or take them upstairs.
"He sits right there by our bench," Nowitzki said. "I think it's a bit much. But we all told him this before. It's nothing new. The game starts, and he's already yelling at them. So he needs to know how to control himself a little."
Or a lot. Cuban has said that he tries to alleviate the pressure on his players by drawing attention to himself. "I'd rather have people say that Cuban is an idiot," he was quoted saying, "than so-and-so player is an idiot."
Cuban is a million miles removed from being an idiot. But during the finals, he played one on TV.
The Mavericks needed someone to call him on it, and Nowitzki took the ball to the hole. He surely earned a new level of respect inside his locker room and out, which should help him find his long, lost parade.
So Nowitzki has officially scored the first basket of the 2006-07 NBA season. If Dallas does win it all next June, Cuban can put himself down for a timely assist.
Dirk Nowitzki was going to shoot a fadeaway. Man, I was so sure of that.
The Mavericks were down three to the Spurs in the final, frantic moments of a Game 7 everyone expected would go San Antonio's way ? if only because Nowitzki had the ball.
He would stop his dribble. Pull up. Drive his body away from the basket with a feathery jumper that would amount to a cop-out move from a superstar once known to be Charmin-soft.
But Nowitzki did none of that. He took the ball to the hole with a vengeance, went up strong, and let Manu Ginobili defy direct orders by fouling the Dallas forward at the rim.
That was it, I thought. Nowitzki just made the transition from good to great. He had successfully imposed his will on Tim Duncan and the Spurs. At long last, he was ready to win a championship.
Only he didn't. His Mavericks blew a 2-0 NBA Finals lead to the Miami Heat in spectacular fashion, surrendering a 13-point lead in the middle of the fourth quarter of Game 3 and never seizing another night.
Nowitzki couldn't match the genius of Dwyane Wade, but his employer, Mark Cuban, was assigned a larger share of the blame. By trashing the officials and by basically playing the bench-side fool enough to earn another $250K fine, Cuban had unwittingly given his players an excuse to lose.
An owner can never, ever do that. Which is why Nowitzki was recently quoted in The Dallas Morning News ripping Cuban for ripping the refs.
Now I'm absolutely, positively, 100 percent sure Nowitzki is ready to win the title in 2007 that he should've claimed in 2006. He took his last necessary step as a leader-in-training when he confronted the man who pays him and fired hard from the lip.
Mavs owner Mark Cuban earned a $250,000 fine for criticizing the officials during the NBA Finals (Doug Benc / Getty Images)
"Do I think it's a bit much sometimes? Yeah," Nowitzki said of Cuban's act. "He's got to learn how to control himself as well as the players do."
Ouch.
"We can't lose our temper all the time on the court or off the court," Nowitzki continued, "and I think he's got to learn that, too. He's got to improve in that area and not yell at the officials the whole game. I don't think that helps us."
It had to be said for the record and despite the potential consequences. Nowitzki is up for a contract extension worth nearly $60 million, and he needed to put his mouth where his money is. He needed to show his heartbroken teammates, devastated by the finals collapse, that he's willing to go one on one with Cuban if it means helping the Mavericks' chances of redeeming themselves next June.
All in all, I like Cuban. I like what he's done with a loser franchise in a short period of time. I like the fact that he cares about his Joe Six Pack customers, that he remains accessible to them, and that he harbors more passion for the product and the result than any owner in sports.
But he killed the Mavs when he took his officiating tirade to Defcon 1. The not-so-subliminal message his words and deeds sent to Avery Johnson and the players went something like this:
The refs are against us. The league is against us. It's OK to lose now, because everyone can see this isn't a fair-and-square event.
Any time an owner gives his team a reason to give in, the team usually takes him up on it.
"We all know what Mark brings to the team, how he supports us," Nowitzki said. "We live with who he is, and we love him that way. But do I think it's good for us always? No."
It wasn't good for the Mavs in the finals, and someone had to grow the nerve to tell Cuban that he'd betrayed his own cause.
Nowitzki didn't just go public with his feelings; he revealed that he and Michael Finley and Steve Nash once asked Cuban to temper his courtside outbursts. Either that, or take them upstairs.
"He sits right there by our bench," Nowitzki said. "I think it's a bit much. But we all told him this before. It's nothing new. The game starts, and he's already yelling at them. So he needs to know how to control himself a little."
Or a lot. Cuban has said that he tries to alleviate the pressure on his players by drawing attention to himself. "I'd rather have people say that Cuban is an idiot," he was quoted saying, "than so-and-so player is an idiot."
Cuban is a million miles removed from being an idiot. But during the finals, he played one on TV.
The Mavericks needed someone to call him on it, and Nowitzki took the ball to the hole. He surely earned a new level of respect inside his locker room and out, which should help him find his long, lost parade.
So Nowitzki has officially scored the first basket of the 2006-07 NBA season. If Dallas does win it all next June, Cuban can put himself down for a timely assist.
