Manu20
05-19-2006, 01:07 AM
Buck Harvey: As Cuban goes low: Power of madness
Web Posted: 05/19/2006 12:00 AM CDT
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/columnists/bharvey/stories/MYSA051906.1C.COL.BKNharvey.spurs.21e7901d.html
San Antonio Express-News
I'm not sure if Mark Cuban is just another fan on another message board. Or if he's stirring up the mob for tonight.
I'm not sure if Cuban believes Jason Terry's closed-fist punch to Michael Finley's groin wasn't really a punch. Or if Cuban is so calculating, so sensitive to the psyche of the refs, that he wants to frame his Mavericks as victims.
I'm just sure of a few e-mails exchanged with Cuban on Thursday evening, including this thought from him:
"Laying on your back with someone on top of you, you just got hit in the head with a hip and you are trying to get them off of you. That's not throwing a punch."
This analysis comes, remember, from a very smart man.
Cuban lost Terry for a game, but in no way have the Mavericks lost this series. They still have enough to beat the Spurs, and most everyone knows by now the classic NBA dynamic. When stars go down, seemingly everyone else goes up.
Should the Spurs win tonight, Game 7 is also no lock. Terry would be returning then with the Mavericks less skittish than determined. They lost by a point in San Antonio in Game 5. Couldn't they win Monday night?
The Spurs also feared how Sacramento would react without Ron Artest, and their fears were realized. The Kings relaxed without him, then boiled upon his return.
The Spurs realize this, but they will still take what has been given them. This is an elimination game, after all. American Airlines Center will be crazy no matter, so the Spurs figure they might as well not face a player who scored 32 points against them the last time in Dallas.
Terry isn't Dirk Nowitzki. But he's still a clutch shooter who has done a decent job defending Manu Ginobili. The Mavericks are also accustomed to playing with him; he hasn't missed a game since December.
But what he did Wednesday is the sign of someone who spent too much time with the Atlanta Hawks. My impression of the incident, as sent in an e-mail to Cuban:
"Terry probably got banged in the pile for the loose ball, but that happens in basketball. I didn't see anything that made me think either Finley or Ginobili tried to hit him. To me, Terry wasn't reacting to get Finley off of him. He threw a punch."
Going by the video, Terry threw the punch with a closed fist, too. And everyone in the league knows the rules. It's part of the code of conduct, and the guidelines are clear. Suspension follows.
Terry lost his senses, and he did a year ago in a simple basketball play in the Phoenix series. Then, he left Steve Nash open for a 3. This time, instead of going under a screen as he did then, Terry went under to hit Finley in a vital spot.
Terry, on his radio show Thursday night in Dallas, used words that would confuse a veteran politician. "That's totally unsportsmanlike," he said, "and something I wouldn't have done intentionally, if it did happen. For (Finley) to say I intentionally punched him in the groin or stomach, I don't think it happened that way."
Cuban believes this kind of dream-sequence explanation. "Jason didn't even know he did it," Cuban said.
I e-mailed Cuban with another question: No matter the details, isn't a punch with a closed fist always a suspension?
To his credit, Cuban got back to me in minutes. He asked me if I had seen the video, which I had, and he ended the e-mail with: "Throwing a punch is different than reacting with a closed fist when you are the bottom of a pileup. (Terry) couldn't rip a piece of paper from that situation with a fist."
Finley, going by his expression Wednesday, would likely disagree with that.
Cuban disputes that, too. He thinks if Finley had really been punched there, he would have been in more pain. "It was Fin being Fin," Cuban wrote. "Being smart enough to take advantage of the opportunity."
Or is Cuban being smart enough to take advantage of the opportunity? After losing a player, did Cuban want something in return?
So why admit to anything? Why not portray this dishonorable act as some kind of blur, that Finley is playing the crowd, that somehow the Mavericks have been wronged?
I'm sure about something else.
The Spurs will hear about this tonight.
Web Posted: 05/19/2006 12:00 AM CDT
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/columnists/bharvey/stories/MYSA051906.1C.COL.BKNharvey.spurs.21e7901d.html
San Antonio Express-News
I'm not sure if Mark Cuban is just another fan on another message board. Or if he's stirring up the mob for tonight.
I'm not sure if Cuban believes Jason Terry's closed-fist punch to Michael Finley's groin wasn't really a punch. Or if Cuban is so calculating, so sensitive to the psyche of the refs, that he wants to frame his Mavericks as victims.
I'm just sure of a few e-mails exchanged with Cuban on Thursday evening, including this thought from him:
"Laying on your back with someone on top of you, you just got hit in the head with a hip and you are trying to get them off of you. That's not throwing a punch."
This analysis comes, remember, from a very smart man.
Cuban lost Terry for a game, but in no way have the Mavericks lost this series. They still have enough to beat the Spurs, and most everyone knows by now the classic NBA dynamic. When stars go down, seemingly everyone else goes up.
Should the Spurs win tonight, Game 7 is also no lock. Terry would be returning then with the Mavericks less skittish than determined. They lost by a point in San Antonio in Game 5. Couldn't they win Monday night?
The Spurs also feared how Sacramento would react without Ron Artest, and their fears were realized. The Kings relaxed without him, then boiled upon his return.
The Spurs realize this, but they will still take what has been given them. This is an elimination game, after all. American Airlines Center will be crazy no matter, so the Spurs figure they might as well not face a player who scored 32 points against them the last time in Dallas.
Terry isn't Dirk Nowitzki. But he's still a clutch shooter who has done a decent job defending Manu Ginobili. The Mavericks are also accustomed to playing with him; he hasn't missed a game since December.
But what he did Wednesday is the sign of someone who spent too much time with the Atlanta Hawks. My impression of the incident, as sent in an e-mail to Cuban:
"Terry probably got banged in the pile for the loose ball, but that happens in basketball. I didn't see anything that made me think either Finley or Ginobili tried to hit him. To me, Terry wasn't reacting to get Finley off of him. He threw a punch."
Going by the video, Terry threw the punch with a closed fist, too. And everyone in the league knows the rules. It's part of the code of conduct, and the guidelines are clear. Suspension follows.
Terry lost his senses, and he did a year ago in a simple basketball play in the Phoenix series. Then, he left Steve Nash open for a 3. This time, instead of going under a screen as he did then, Terry went under to hit Finley in a vital spot.
Terry, on his radio show Thursday night in Dallas, used words that would confuse a veteran politician. "That's totally unsportsmanlike," he said, "and something I wouldn't have done intentionally, if it did happen. For (Finley) to say I intentionally punched him in the groin or stomach, I don't think it happened that way."
Cuban believes this kind of dream-sequence explanation. "Jason didn't even know he did it," Cuban said.
I e-mailed Cuban with another question: No matter the details, isn't a punch with a closed fist always a suspension?
To his credit, Cuban got back to me in minutes. He asked me if I had seen the video, which I had, and he ended the e-mail with: "Throwing a punch is different than reacting with a closed fist when you are the bottom of a pileup. (Terry) couldn't rip a piece of paper from that situation with a fist."
Finley, going by his expression Wednesday, would likely disagree with that.
Cuban disputes that, too. He thinks if Finley had really been punched there, he would have been in more pain. "It was Fin being Fin," Cuban wrote. "Being smart enough to take advantage of the opportunity."
Or is Cuban being smart enough to take advantage of the opportunity? After losing a player, did Cuban want something in return?
So why admit to anything? Why not portray this dishonorable act as some kind of blur, that Finley is playing the crowd, that somehow the Mavericks have been wronged?
I'm sure about something else.
The Spurs will hear about this tonight.