Mavs head coach Rick Carlisle was not pleased with his team’s effort during last night’s 98-92 loss to the Phoenix Suns calling it an embarrassment.
“This is a Dallas Mavericks hard-play problem, all right?” he told reporters, via Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com. “We don’t play hard all the time. And that’s a problem.
“It’s pretty clear that’s where our inconsistency is, and we’ve got to get better. We’ve got to be a more together team. I believe that we can do it. We did it in the second half, but it’s work. It takes effort. It takes effort in the locker room, it takes sacrifice and we’ve got to be willing to do those things.”
When asked why a playoff team wasn’t playing harder Carlisle had no answer.
“I think that’s a question you’ve got to ask them,” he said. “I have my theories, but I’m not going to air them out publicly. I aired things out in there at halftime, and I’ve said enough for one night as far as that goes. If you’ve got questions about strategies and specific things, I’ll answer them. But in terms of the soul of the team, you’ve got to ask those guys.”
The Mavs were able to overcome a 15 point deficit and regain a 6 point lead with six minutes remaining in the game but turnovers and missed shots allowed Phoenix to quickly retake control of the game. With the loss, the Mavericks are now a full game behind San Antonio making Tuesday night’s game against the Spurs that much more important.
H/T: Yardbarker