NBA fines Mavs owner Cuban $25,000

[Spurs Brazil]

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3839196

Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has been fined $25,000 for walking onto the court and yelling at Nuggets guard J.R. Smith at halftime during Tuesday night's game in Denver and for actions afterward, the league announced Friday.

Cuban took offense Tuesday when Smith threw an elbow that barely missed Mavericks forward Antoine Wright late in the first half.


Cuban

Cuban said Wright could have been severely injured and that he was going to ask the league to suspend Smith. The NBA said Thursday Smith would not face discipline for the incident.

Cuban responded to the fine Friday with a tongue-in-cheek post on his blog, blogmaverick.com.

"The NBA tells me a tech should have been called on you for throwing the elbow and that I should pay a 25k dollar fine because owners aren't supposed to get mad. Ever," Cuban states in the blog post, which is written as a letter and begins with "Dear JR."

Nuggets coach George Karl has said he was OK with Cuban's stance but took exception to him calling out a player from an opposing team.

Part of the fine also stemmed from Cuban's language toward an official as he exited the court after the Mavs' 99-97 loss at the Pepsi Center -- something Cuban has denied.

Cuban could be seen mouthing an obscenity shortly after Chauncey Billups made two free throws with 2.2 seconds left for the game-winning points following a highly questionable foul call against Jason Terry.

"In the spirit of the joy of my getting fined and your not getting the tech, have the Nuggets PR folks contact the Mavs PR folks and I will donate 25k to the charity of your choice," Cuban writes in his blog, presumably to Smith.

"Unless of course your coach thinks [that's] the wrong thing to do, or the NBA says I can't because it would be a violation of a rule. In which case, I will find a charity that I think you would like and make the donation in your name."

The post ends with "bff m" -- short for "best friends forever, Mark."


The penalty Friday was the 14th the league has announced against Cuban, who has been penalized about $1.5 million over the years and suspended from three games.

[Findog]

http://blogmaverick.com/2009/01/16/me-and-jr-smith/

Dear JR.

Im sorry I didnt accept your generous offer of a signed pair of shoes. I think they were even my size.

The NBA tells me a tech should have been called on you for throwing the elbow and that I should pay a 25k dollar fine because owners aren’t supposed to get mad. Ever.

In the spirit of the joy of my getting fined and your not getting the tech, have the Nuggets PR folks contact the Mavs PR folks and I will donate 25k to the charity of your choice.

Unless of course your coach thinks that the wrong thing to do, or the NBA says I can’t because it would be a violation of a rule. In which case, I will find a charity that I think you would like and make the donation in your name.

bff

m

[dirk4mvp]

http://blogmaverick.com/2009/01/16/me-and-jr-smith/

Dear JR.

Im sorry I didnt accept your generous offer of a signed pair of shoes. I think they were even my size.

The NBA tells me a tech should have been called on you for throwing the elbow and that I should pay a 25k dollar fine because owners aren’t supposed to get mad. Ever.

In the spirit of the joy of my getting fined and your not getting the tech, have the Nuggets PR folks contact the Mavs PR folks and I will donate 25k to the charity of your choice.

Unless of course your coach thinks that the wrong thing to do, or the NBA says I can’t because it would be a violation of a rule. In which case, I will find a charity that I think you would like and make the donation in your name.

bff

m

That's some heavy ownage.

[DPG21920]

sigh

[Findog]

Cuban should donate $25k to MADD in JR's honor

[Rogue]

It's not the first time he got fined, and it's definitely not the last time.

everyone has a limit to their tolerances, including cuban.

[endrity]

I have been critical of Cubes in the past, especially his behavior in 06, but I stand by him in this case.

[Cane]

If I had spent millions of dollars and countless of hours in a team, I'd be pretty passionate too. As much of a character Cuban is he's living the American dream.

[BlackSwordsMan]

There goes the 25 g's he was going to spend on a better player.

[CubanMustGo]

$25K is a joke for Cuban. He got to make his point for chump change.

[lil_penny]

Can't blame cuban.. j.r smith is a tool anyways

[DPG21920]

shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

[Austin_Toros]

Cuban is a mofo. End of story.

Boy would I love to see him living in the streets some day.
Anyone got a knife?

[ManuTP9]

nothing new here

[diego]

as much as i dislike cuban, and agree he shouldnt be allowed to get on the court, he was right about the ellbow and this is yet another example of the refs ing up and instead of making ammends post game with replay, stu jackson goes and s it up more by not holding his refs accountable.

things like this make me wish i never got so into the nba. for all the bithcing americans do about soccer and flopping, Fifa is way better and more consistent about their post game fines and suspensions, even though the court is way bigger and you have more than twice the players.