Dallas Mavericks billionaire owner Mark Cuban should apologise to the Houston Rockets.
Following his comments belittling the Rockets as “not a very good team,” Cuban and the Mavericks have found themselves in a pretty scary situation, being buried in a 0-3 pit by the team he hates.
Now, in order for them to advance to the next playoff phase, the Mavericks need to win all their remaining games against the Rockets. But they need more than a miracle to beat the number two seed in Western Conference.
No team in NBA history has managed to survive a 0-3 deficit in the first round of the playoffs.
Because theirs was not always a friendly rivalry, the Mavs and Rockets are known to trade barbs, not players. Both camps’ executives have a long history of enmity with thrash talking playing a big part as they fight over players in free agency.
Just before the 2015 NBA Playoffs, Cuban took a swipe at the Rockets, saying the James Harden-led team is the league’s most predictable side.
“There’s no more predictable team than the Rockets. You know exactly what they’re going to do,” He told Grantland’s Kirk Goldsberry.
“But James Harden is so good. That’s what analytics have begot. Right? Predictability. If you know what the percentages are, in the playoffs, you have time to counter them. Whether you’re good enough to do it is another question. Because they are very talented, and James Harden, I think, is the MVP. Because that’s not a very good team over there.”
As it turned out, Cuban’s demeaning statement had backfired. His Mavericks are now on the brink of being eliminated. And the Rockets are one win away from advancing to the next round.
As far as the series goes, it seems the Mavs are the ones worthy of the “not a very good team” tag, given the precarious situation they are currently in. With Rajon Rondo and Chandler Parsons out due to injuries, they certainly don’t have enough tools to be the force to reckon with in the playoffs.
In contrast, the Rockets looked good in the series. Harden and Dwight Howard seem to be a perfect combination, leading the team to its best showing since the days of Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady.
In Game 3 on Friday night in Dallas, leading Most Valuable Player candidate Harden delivered 42 points, his playoff career-high, while big man Howard grabbed 28 rebounds, his post-season best.
With a 3-0 lead, the Rockets have proven Cuban wrong and appeared to be heading to the Western Conference Finals. As for the Mavericks, crawling back from the brink would certainly be a gargantuan task and need more than another verbal assault from Cuban.
A Rockets victory Sunday night in the Mavericks’ territory would shove them to the next round and pull Cuban and the Mavs back to the drawing board.
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