Tweet
NEW ORLEANS -- Frustrated after watching his team bungle a 10-point advantage heading into the fourth quarter and then spit up a seven-point lead with 1:13 to go courtesy of multiple errors, Dallas Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle pulled no punches, and perhaps even dropped one on his club below the belt.
"Soft," Carlisle said of his team after a disappointing 93-92 loss to a slumping New Orleans Hornets team that kept pushing even without its concussed floor leader, Chris Paul.
Who said that? I'm not soft, not me. I don't know where that comes from, but we ain't soft. We have to see how he meant soft in that aspect, but I know he wasn't talking to me personally or any of my teammates because I don't think none of these guys are soft.
” -- Mavericks guard Jason Terry
"Yeah," the coach reiterated, "soft."
That description touched a nerve in an otherwise quiet Mavs locker room, which was likely Carlisle's intent after a second loss in three games in which Dallas blew double-digit, second-half leads.
The Mavericks have a half-game lead on the Los Angeles Lakers for the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference heading into Thursday's home game against the New York Knicks.
"I wouldn't go that far," said center Tyson Chandler, who returned from a sprained right ankle and recorded his 17th double-double with 16 points and 13 rebounds. His only blemish was clanking two free throws with 17.7 seconds left that kept the Mavericks' margin at two, 92-90.
"Who said that?" Jason Terry said, scoffing at the accusation after he had an off night -- rare for him of late -- with 10 points. "I'm not soft, not me. I don't know where that comes from, but we ain't soft. We have to see how he meant soft in that aspect, but I know he wasn't talking to me personally or any of my teammates because I don't think none of these guys are soft."
What chafed Carlisle was a rebounding total that had the Mavs on the wrong end, 44-31, and a devastating 24-11 deficit in the second half that included no offensive boards, meaning no second possessions, not a single tip-in or tip-out. Although Chandler secured 13 rebounds, the other nine who played totaled 18.
"I think we've just got to be tougher," Carlisle said quietly. "Got to be tougher."
ESPN
"Soft," Carlisle said of his team after a disappointing 93-92 loss to a slumping New Orleans Hornets team that kept pushing even without its concussed floor leader, Chris Paul.
Who said that? I'm not soft, not me. I don't know where that comes from, but we ain't soft. We have to see how he meant soft in that aspect, but I know he wasn't talking to me personally or any of my teammates because I don't think none of these guys are soft.
” -- Mavericks guard Jason Terry
"Yeah," the coach reiterated, "soft."
That description touched a nerve in an otherwise quiet Mavs locker room, which was likely Carlisle's intent after a second loss in three games in which Dallas blew double-digit, second-half leads.
The Mavericks have a half-game lead on the Los Angeles Lakers for the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference heading into Thursday's home game against the New York Knicks.
"I wouldn't go that far," said center Tyson Chandler, who returned from a sprained right ankle and recorded his 17th double-double with 16 points and 13 rebounds. His only blemish was clanking two free throws with 17.7 seconds left that kept the Mavericks' margin at two, 92-90.
"Who said that?" Jason Terry said, scoffing at the accusation after he had an off night -- rare for him of late -- with 10 points. "I'm not soft, not me. I don't know where that comes from, but we ain't soft. We have to see how he meant soft in that aspect, but I know he wasn't talking to me personally or any of my teammates because I don't think none of these guys are soft."
What chafed Carlisle was a rebounding total that had the Mavs on the wrong end, 44-31, and a devastating 24-11 deficit in the second half that included no offensive boards, meaning no second possessions, not a single tip-in or tip-out. Although Chandler secured 13 rebounds, the other nine who played totaled 18.
"I think we've just got to be tougher," Carlisle said quietly. "Got to be tougher."
ESPN
Comment