[Ft. Worth Star-Telegram] Mavericks Notes - Cuban Defends his actions

<a href="http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/sports/basketball/11542965.htm"><font size="+1">Mavericks Notes: Cuban defends his actions</a></font>
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Posted on Mon, May. 02, 2005
By Art Garcia and Mercedes Mayer, Star-Telegram Staff Writers

DALLAS - Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy obviously isn't a fan of Mark Cuban's crusade to improve officiating.

Van Gundy has suggested that Cuban's willingness to speak out against officiating -- and to pay numerous fines in the process -- has created an unfair advantage against Houston's Yao Ming. In an interview Sunday with The New York Times, Houston's KRIV-TV and the Houston Chronicle, Van Gundy said: "You've got to give Mark Cuban credit. They said it on TNT [Saturday] night.

"He's been calling [NBA headquarters] and calling about Yao, and you've got to give the guy credit. He's taken a lot of fines in his time, and he's been on them hard and he's gotten the benefit."

Van Gundy said Cuban's outspokenness has hurt Yao Ming and the Rockets the past two games.

"Before Game 3, I got a call from another official in the NBA who is not in the playoffs that I've known forever, and they told me they were looking at Yao harder because of Mark's complaints. That proved prophetic the last couple of games. I didn't think that really worked in the NBA, but in this case it has."

But Cuban said the NBA is not giving preferential treatment through its officiating.

"That's crazy. It's also an insult to officials," Cuban said Sunday via e-mail. "They don't officiate individual players differently. Did [Van Gundy] notice that [Erick Dampier] has gotten two quick fouls in every game, and has been limited by foul trouble? Has he ever looked at Shawn Bradley's fouls per minute? They both seem to have the same type of fouls called on them."

Bradley had four fouls in 10 minutes in the first two games (Houston victories) of the series. In the Mavs' two victories, Dampier played 19 minutes in Game 3 and picked up five fouls, and fouled out of Game 4 after an 18-minute stint.

Yao has five fouls in each of the past two games and played an average of 29.5 minutes. He has been the usual partner for Tracy McGrady high screen-and-rolls.

Cuban sent a list to the NBA office of what the Mavs considered to be moving screens by Yao and Dikembe Mutombo from Game 1, which the Rockets won 98-86.

"We wanted clarification from the league if our assessment of what was going on was correct," Cuban said. "The league came back and told us of the 28 that we turned in from this game, nine were actually moving screens and should have been called but were not."

<b>A better plan</b>

It's not that the Mavericks have decided to scrap any idea of guarding Houston's hot hand, Tracy McGrady.

But, with McGrady averaging 31.5 points through four games, the Mavs have almost resorted to letting McGrady get his points while trying to stop everybody else.

The transition to focusing on the Rockets' role players began in Game 3, which the Mavs won, and it continued with the Mavs' Game 4 victory. In Games 1 and 2, role players Mike James, Jon Barry and Bob Sura came up big, scoring a combined 72 points or 12.0 points per game. Other than Sura's 21 points in Game 3, none of the three has scored more than seven points in the past two games.

McGrady scored 36 points Saturday night, but only one other Rockets player -- Yao Ming (20) -- scored in double figures. Before Game 4, at least three players had at least 10 points in each game for Houston.

<b>Briefly</b>

• Game 6 of the series is scheduled for an 8:30 p.m. tipoff Thursday in Houston. It will be televised on TNT and KTXA/Ch. 21.

• The Mavs' free-throw shooting has gotten better throughout the series. After missing nine the first game, they missed seven in Game 2 and only five each in games 3 and 4. Dirk Nowitzki has made 22 consecutive free throws in the series.

• One series-long trend continued in Game 4, as the losing team won the rebounding advantage. The Rockets outrebounded the Mavs 37-32 in Game 4.

Staff Writer Dwain Price Contributed to This Report.