Full-Court Press

Comedic Carlisle

I don't know Rick Carlisle very well, but the guy does have a pretty good sense of humor. Last night after the victory over the Spurs, someone asked about the win, considering Cuban's comments the day before.
    Said Carlisle to laughs, "we called out Cuban in the locker room and told him if he had been on the

Oklahoma city

trip, we probably would've won the game."

Carlisle also had some fun at the media's expense regarding Jason Kidd's performance:
    "This was a game that meant a lot to him. It's a big-time team in our division and it's the matchup against (Tony) Parker everyone talks about. So much of his greatness is overlooked when he doesn't put up big scoring numbers. That's a sin. Shame on the media for that."

-- Tracey Myers

Carlisle appreciates Kidd

Well, coach Rick Carlisle appreciates Jason Kidd's contributions on this team all the time. But the coach was very impressed with Kidd's 10,000-plus assists, especially given Carlisle's lack of them when he was a player.
    "I have a special appreciation for 10,000 assists because in my five-year career I had 201 total," Carlisle said. "So I let him know that; that was pretty special."

Asked later if he ever had 15 assists in a game, as Kidd did against Toronto, Carlisle said, "in an NBA game? No. But thanks for asking."

-- Tracey Myers

No distraction

We're on the eve of the trade deadline, but coach Rick Carlisle said his Mavs are focused on the Nets, not any possible moves that may happen within these final deadline hours. Carlisle had some fun joking about the insanity that comes with this time:

"I don’t think I’m getting traded," Carlisle quipped. As far as his players, well, they'll be fine, too.

"We have a veteran team. These guys have been down this road, seen their names. Look at (Jason) Kidd last year. That was a zoo. It was all the talk for three straight weeks. I just think our guys, we have no rookies, so they've seen and heard it all. I don’t see the big distraction everyone wants to see there. But that’s just me, I don’t know. You ask the players you may get a different reaction."

-- Tracey Myers

Postgame audio clips

All right, folks, all the things you want to hear (and probably some you don't) are right below for your listening pleasure...

Coach Rick Carlisle: http://media.star-telegram.com/smedia/2009/02/13/00/0212_carlisle.source.prod_affiliate.58.mp3

Josh Howard:  http://media.star-telegram.com/smedia/2009/02/13/00/0212_howard.source.prod_affiliate.58.mp3

Jason Kidd: http://media.star-telegram.com/smedia/2009/02/13/00/0212_kidd.source.prod_affiliate.58.mp3

Antoine Wright: http://media.star-telegram.com/smedia/2009/02/13/00/0212_wright.source.prod_affiliate.58.mp3

Dirk Nowitzki: http://media.star-telegram.com/smedia/2009/02/13/00/0212_nowitzki.source.prod_affiliate.58.mp3

 

"I'm taking all the blame in this one."

That was the sentiment repeated a few times by coach Rick Carlisle following the Mavericks' 99-92 loss to the Celtics. Carlisle blamed himself for not coming up with the right defensive scheme to stop Celtics forward Paul Pierce, who scored 18 of his 31 points in the fourth.
    "We played the Paul Pierce play a few different ways, but we should have double-teamed him and made others take shots. When you sit in this chair, you have to be man enough and honest enough to say you blew it. We could’ve made more shots, maybe the outcome could’ve been different. But my heart is with our guys. This one’s on me."
    Dirk Nowitzki commented on Carlisle's self-blame: "You can analyze a thousand things. Afterward you’re always smarter. You can always make arguments when you lose of what you should’ve, could’ve done. But we had enough chances, we fought and battled, we just came up short."

So what do you think, folks... is this one on Rick Carlisle?

-- Tracey Myers