MILWAUKEE -- At the end of his postgame press conference after Tuesday's 115-108 win over the Milwaukee Bucks, Dallas Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle went out of his way to all but apologize to center Chris Kaman -- via the media.
Kaman started the game, but played only the first two minutes and 14 seconds before Carlisle replaced him and never put him back in the game again. While Kaman absolutely didn't like the way he was handled, Carlisle told the media:
“Starting Kaman tonight was a mistake on my part because of the quickness of (the Bucks') big guys. I decided to give it a shot because he’s been doing some good things.
“But the quick pull on that, it just wasn’t his type of game, so that’s on me and I’ve already talked to him about that. He’s a valuable player for us, but this was not the right game to throw him out there at the beginning.’’
Kaman, who signed a one-year, $8 million contract with the Mavs last summer, was not exactly thrilled with being yanked so early in the game without having another chance to get back in.
"It's obviously disappointing that (Carlisle) feels that way, that I shouldn't even be playing, but the guys did a good job and really we've been playing well,'' Kaman said. "This road trip, we're 3-0 right now and I'm happy.
"But obviously from a personal standpoint it's frustrating because you've got a guy who's played in this league for 10 years and I feel like I'm a pretty solid basketball player. For me not to be able to even get into a game to me is just a little diappointing, but it is what it is.''
Kaman missed his only two field goal attempts against the Bucks, and otherwise had zeros across the board. Obviously, Kaman wanted to be more of a factor against Milwaukee, but that wasn't the case.
"He's going to make his decisions,'' Kaman said of Carlisle. "That's why they're paying him the big bucks to be in charge of the Mavericks, and that's his decision.''
-- Dwain Price
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