A Few Thoughts on Mavs 106, Kings 110

[mavsluvr]

With the way that Phoenix and Sacramento in particular basically tried to play bully-ball against us, I think that is going to be the book on playing the Mavs.  Rick sees that as the way teams are going to continue to try to play us from now on and he's trying to get ahead of it.

That may well be the book on how to play the Mavs. 

However, I don't think Rick showing video to a few reporters is likely to dissuade other teams from playing the Mavs physically. I suppose the hope might be to generate public complaints that would embarrass the league into calling more fouls when Luka gets hit. I am doubtful that the reporters are going to affect the refereeing, but maybe they will appease some fans who might not think the team is doing enough to support Luka in these situations. 

This issue didn't start with Luka. Players, especially stars, get hit all the time during matches, and most of those hits aren't called. The league could require tighter refereeing if the owners wanted. I am not defending wrong calls/no-calls -- the refs should be competent. Just wondering whether Rick is howling in the wilderness, and if so, why. Maybe it will do some good -- I guess there's always a chance.

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A radio host said this morning that Rick invited some reporters into his office after the game and showed them game tape of fouls on Luka. Maybe he's hoping that they write on the topic. It'll be interesting to see if we get some "Luka's getting fouled a lot" articles.

I thought that was interesting, and seemed pretty un-Rick-like. I wonder if Cuban asked him to do that.

I wonder if it served a dual purpose. 

1. Speak to the league through the media. Get the idea that Luka is nightly getting hammered into public consciousness.  

2. Let Luka know that you're working on the issue through other channels as you tell him that he's gotta get his mind off the refs in game.

Yeah, that second point sounds likely. While I don't think the league is going to pay much attention, Luka may well feel better, at least temporarily. If so, then it's worth doing.