Quoteboard: Carlisle Calls Mavs 'Soft'

In these parts, it's a dirty word. 'Soft,' coach Rick Carlisle said. And in Mavs Quoteboard, those involved said much more. ...

We've been here before, the Dallas Mavericks and the people who care about them. Remember the 2008 Playoffs, remember Peja's last-second miracle, remember Dirk's greasy fingers? Not this time, we all thought as Dallas went up by 11 in the fourth quarter. We kept thinking it as Dirk sank a technical free throw at 1:13 and made the score 92-85. The Mavericks didn't score again, the Hornets pounded out eight straight, Dirk missed a game-winner, and it's all over, 93-92. For us folk at thed DB.com Mavs Get-Together at ThreeSheets, there might've been screaming.

Quoteboard:



A loss to the Chris Paul-less Hornets -- what happened?
“We did everything to lose the game. We didn’t make plays down in the end, so you’ve got to give the Hornets credit. They kept playing, they got one. We did everything to lose it.” -Jason Kidd

“Hey, look, they had to make every play to win the game and they did. They threw in a halfcourt shot at halftime, they had another shot that was a hair from counting at the end of the third quarter and, you know, those are plays that keep you in games.” -Coach Rick Carlisle

“This was a tough loss. Especially for me. I feel sick to my stomach!" -Tyson Chandler via Twitter

Failure in late-game execution part one -- zero points from two Chandler free throws . . .
“We made some mistakes down the stretch. We had an opportunity to seal the game when I was at the free throw line. I missed two free throws, crucial, but I’ll do it again. I’ll step to the free throw the next time I’m in the opportunity and I’ll knock them down.” -Tyson Chandler

Failure in late-game execution part two -- personal foul Jason Kidd, leading to three made free throws from Jarrett Jack . . .
“If we make free throws or get a stop, the game is over. I felt that (Jack) was going to shoot the three, so I tried to crowd him. But he did a good job of drawing the foul. As a defender, you don’t think you fouled, but they called it and it was a smart play on his point. But at the same point we had eight seconds left and came up short.” -Jason Kidd

"Basically the play was drawn up for me, throw it in, try to get a flash and a look at a three. (Kidd) kind of closed in on me. I saw I could swipe under his arm. I was able to get the call and go to the free-throw line." -Jarrett Jack

"I don't know if Jarrett Jack gets that call. We know Kevin Durant does. You know Kobe may get it. But, I don't know about Jarrett Jack. That's just my personal opinion." -Jason Terry

Failure in late-game exection part three -- another missed game winner . . .
“The last possession is a play that we’ve ran before. I come off a double screen, they knew it was coming and they switched and denied me and I had to make another play off the dribble, which is really not what we wanted.” -Dirk Nowitzki

Failure in late-game execution , in total. . .
“We didn’t make plays. You’ve gotta make free throws, you’ve gotta be able to get stops, you’ve gotta be able to get rebounds and we didn’t do it. You’ve got a seven-point lead with 1:13 to go and you’ve gotta be able to finish it off by making the plays. You’ve gotta make a stop. By putting them on the free-throw line, they're shooting free throws with the clock stopped and it keeps them in the game. Credit them for making plays and we did not.” -Coach Rick Carlisle

“The last two minutes we kind of did everything wrong to kind of lose that one. Just bad, bad execution down the stretch. We really had the game won already . . . It shouldn’t have come down to being down one with a couple seconds to go, but you’ve got to give them credit. They played hard. They hung in there.” -Dirk Nowitzki

Status update on Shawn Marion, who took a Marco Belinelli Flagrant One and had to leave the game with sore ribs (X-rays negative, status for tonight's game unknown) . . .
“I hit a spot that was already tender. I got a knee or a camera right there on the side. It hit directly in my rib cage. It’s real tender, but I’ll be all right.” -Shawn Marion

Trying to keep things in perspective . . .
“We’ve just to keep on plugging and we’ll see what happens next time. The last three weeks or whatever we’ve lost three games, all of them by one point, so that really stinks. But hey, I guess we did a nice job in the other 19 of closing out and winning, so sometimes you’re just gonna get the short end of the stick.” -Dirk Nowitzki In summary …

"Soft. Yeah, soft.’’ – Rick.