Tag: Dallas Mavericks (Page 13 of 16)

After losing to the Thunder Monday night, Mark Cuban was highly critical of his team.

After the Mavericks were humiliated Monday by an Oklahoma City team playing without its top two scorers, Cuban lashed out, and for the first time indicated that there are no untouchables on the team.

“It’s only one game, which I keep reminding myself of today. But let’s just say I wasn’t happy with our preparation, execution or effort. Not only did it look like we had no idea what we were doing, but we did it without effort. The effort and energy, on both sides of the ball, by each player will decide their future with the Mavericks.

“If each player can’t take the personal initiative to make every game important and play like it, I don’t see them being here next season. The ball won’t always bounce the way we want it to, but every player can control their level of effort. If it’s not important enough to them to lay it out every game the rest of the season, they won’t be back. I don’t care what their contract is. I would rather turn over the roster 100 percent than subject fans to another game like last night.

“This team has the talent to win in the playoffs. But that’s only going to happen if all 15 guys know and execute their assignments and play every possession like it’s important.”

Cuban’s comments are totally justified. The Thunder played without Kevin Durant and Jeff Green, starting a lineup of Russell Westbrook, Kyle Weaver, Thabo Sefolosha, Nick Collison and Nenad Krstic. Ouch.

This is the first time that Cuban has indicated that Dirk Nowitzki might not be untouchable anymore. He’s exactly right about how there are nights when the ball doesn’t go through the hoop or that the other team can’t miss, but the effort should always be there. These guys are making millions of dollars to play a game, and while the rest of the economy is tanking and people across of the country are losing their jobs, the least the Mavs can do is play as hard as they can while they’re out on the court. Anything less is an embarrassment and a slap in the face of their fan base.

The Mavs are on notice.