Rick Carlisle offers, um, colorful analogy for the Mavericks’ preseason turnover problems
As we covered on Monday, the Dallas Mavericks find themselves in a pretty dicey position as they get ready to start the 2012-13 NBA regular season. They're without their German meal ticket for somewhere between three and six weeks, they don't seem to have another primary scorer ready to take over the offense until he gets back and they're in danger of finding themselves behind the eight-ball — and the eighth seed — in a competitive Western Conference if they can't weather Dirk Nowitzki's absence in the season's early weeks.
Compounding the problem, the Mavs have been turning the ball over like crazy — 94 cough-ups in five preseason games heading into Monday night's matchup with No. 1 overall pick Anthony Davis and the New Orleans Hornets, one of the teams with whom Dallas could be competing for a lower-tier playoff spot in the Western Conference this season. Without a top-flight scorer, every possession counts, so the Mavs' preseason predilection toward playing loose with the ball might strike some as worrisome.
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Apparently, though, Mavs coach Rick Carlisle isn't sweating it too much. Asked Monday about what's causing the turnovers and what Dallas must do to take better care of the basketball, "Uncle Ricky" planted his tongue firmly in cheek said this, according to Dwain Price of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram:
"We're doing it every way you can do it," Carlisle said before Monday's game against the New Orleans Hornets. "If we were a sex manual, it'd be a best-seller."
And now you're thinking about Chris Kaman.
The Mavs turned it over a preseason-low 10 times in their 87-74 win over the Hornets, probably because all of the Hornets were too grossed out to get into the passing lanes.
