PHILADELPHIA _ Mark Cuban is still riding that Shawn Marion for NBA Defensive Player of the Year bandwagon. And riding it hard.
The Dallas Mavericks owner started touting Marion of the league's top defensive honor earlier in the week, and he continued it Friday night after Marion and the Mavs held the Philadelphia 76ers to a mere 24 second-half points in the Mavs' 92-75 victory.
"In this type of season you knew things were going to be funky,'' Cuban said. "Whether it's Shawn playing Defensive Player of the Year defense, which there's nobody playing any better defense, I dodn't care.
"We still haven't played anywhere near good basketball. We've just been able to survive on smart defense, and Shawn Marion basically taking on entire teams by himself defensively.''
Marion appreciates the praises from Cuban, but knows he's also had a lot of help from his teammates.
"We're all out there communicating with each other,'' Marion said. "I think that the more we're helping each other and the more we're communicating and making it hard for the other team, the better we are, and it shows.
"When you have everybody just feeding off each other and helping each other to make them better, it makes us all look better.''
-- Dwain Price
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