http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/playoffs2006/news/story?id=2464101


NBA to review incident with Avery Johnson's wife

By Marc Stein
ESPN.com

Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and reserve center DJ Mbenga, who was inactive and in street clothes for Game 4, entered the stands late in the first quarter after Cassandra Johnson, wife of Mavs coach Avery Johnson, got into a dispute with two Suns fans.

Cuban and Mbenga were joined by team security coordinator Jim Colleran in a section overlooking the Mavs' bench to check on Cassandra Johnson. A misdemeanor assault complaint was reportedly later filed by the fans against Johnson for allegedly shoving and swearing at them.

It was not immediately known if Cuban or Mbenga are facing sanction from the league for going into the stands. NBA spokesman Brian McIntyre said the incident would be reviewed by the league office Wednesday.

"I heard something went on. But we've been in situations before on the road -- Mark's wife has had problems, my wife, our [team] president [Terdema Ussery]," Avery Johnson said after the game. "When you're on the road, you know things happen, people throw stuff at you. So we'll see what happened. I haven't really talked to her yet."

Then-New York center Antonio Davis was suspended for five games in January for entering the stands during a game at Chicago to confront a fan he thought was harassing his wife. But Davis, in that scenario, was an active participant in the game who was penalized for what NBA vice president of basketball operations Stu Jackson described as "breaking the barrier from the court into the stands."

It was not immediately clear whether the actions of an owner and/or an inactive player would be interpreted similarly.

Cuban tried to downplay the incident at halftime, calling it "a non-event."

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/sports/14704613.htm


Mavs' owner wants Heat

BARRY JACKSON
bjackson@MiamiHerald.com

Count Mavericks owner Mark Cuban among those hoping to see a Heat-Dallas NBA Finals.

''Everyone in Dallas is rooting for the Heat for two reasons,'' Cuban, whose team is favored to beat Phoenix in the Western finals, relayed via e-mail. ``We want to see Shaq in the Finals again, and it gives the Mavs home-court advantage.''

Why does Cuban want to see Shaquille O'Neal in the Finals? ``Great for TV ratings. We can play our Shaq Albert (LOL--GD) video and crack Shaq up during the games. Shaq and I can give hand signals and see if we get caught. Most importantly, if the Mavs make it past the Suns, it would be great basketball between two great teams.''

Cuban has another reason to root for Mavs-Heat: He can sleep in his 2,500-square-foot luxury condo on South Beach. The pad, on Ocean Drive, features five high-definition TV sets and a private 45-foot basketball court on the roof.

Only one problem: If the ball bounces over, it falls 14 floors into a parking garage. (That happened once.) ''We take a little air out of the ball to make sure it doesn't bounce over the wall,'' Cuban said.

Cuban is cheering for the heat because he's way to white to be anywhere within a 200 mile radious of the D


Could you imagin if we got the finals vs the Mavs and some how, some way we were able to get him onto our site? That would be nuts.

gotta love Cuban...

I'm going to attempt to steer this back on track (oh, the irony).

Am I the only one that can totally picture Cuban doing a TV commercial popping up out of a swimming pool and pimping for Hair Club for Men? Seriously, what's up with his lettuce?

Here's a pic of him flicking off the fans of Houston.
http://www.rutherfordfamily.net/mark68262056965_3300_1-1.jpg


Here he is serving up some soft serve (as "Tony")
http://mybriefs.com/t1_cuban_ap-01.jpg

6 games? Holy shit!

http://www.nba.com/news/mbenga_060601.html?rss=true


Dallas’ D.J. Mbenga Suspended Six Games

NEW YORK, June 1, 2006 – Dallas Mavericks center D.J. Mbenga has been suspended six games without pay for entering the spectator stands, it was announced today by Stu Jackson, NBA Senior Vice President Basketball Operations.

The NBA will not be taking action against Mavericks' owner Mark Cuban for his involvement in the incident as his actions did not violate NBA rules and were not otherwise inappropriate.

The incident occurred during the first quarter of the Mavericks’ 106-86 loss to the Phoenix Suns at US Airways Center on Tuesday, May 30. Mbenga will begin serving his suspension tonight as the Mavericks host the Suns in Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals at the American Airlines Center.

If they suspend Mbenga for going into the stands, then they should suspend Cuban everytime he goes onto the court.

ESPN.com - Mavericks owner Mark Cuban took a shot at Heat coach Pat Riley during an appearance Wednesday night on CBS's "Late Show with David Letterman."

Cuban, wearing a Ben Roethlisberger jersey, brought up Riley's coaching tactics when he was with the Knicks after Letterman asked about the Dallas owner's contributions to the NBA.

"I've tried to make it more fun, but we've changed the rules around some," Cuban said. "I mean, the game got to a point where it really, it slowed down, and then they went through a whole set of rules changes, which really helped, and then these past couple years, I really got involved to outlaw all the handchecking and all the beating up of guys on the perimeter, so now the game's gotten a lot smoother, so you've got superstars like Dwyane Wade, LeBron James, Dirk Nowitzki who can take the ball to the hoop without all of that old Knicks ball, the old Pat Riley stuff, where they'd just beat up on people. So, we changed it up some."

Didnt the bad boys beat up people before the knicks did?

The Bad Boys didn't -just- beat people up, and during our peak years we fouled less than the other teams did against us. But, it was the part of Chuck Daly's "coalminer" Bad Boys style D that got the most attention and emulation by Pat Riley and others. Daly's the real innovator. If we made it to the Finals, I'm sure we'd have seen more talk of him than fucking Pat Riley.