Mavericks Coach Rick Carlisle Airs Out His Team for Not Playing Hard

Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle didn't like his team's effort against the Suns last night.

Image via USA TODAY Sports/Kevin Jairaj

The Mavericks played a pretty terrible game against the Suns last night. They trailed by 15 at halftime. And while they did make the contest more respectable in the second half before eventually losing 98-92, they didn't make their head coach Rick Carlisle proud. So after ripping the team at the half, he ripped them again after the game and echoed some of the same sentiments that Amar'e Stoudemire shared a couple weeks ago when he called the Mavs out for their lack of effort.

"This is a Dallas Mavericks hard-play problem, all right?" he told reporters. "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."

Carlisle also said that, while he thinks he knows why some of his players don't always play hard, he's not going to be the one to rip them publicly for it.

"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 good thing is that the Mavs are still alive in the playoff hunt and will likely make the postseason. The bad thing is that, despite adding Stoudemire to the mix, Dallas has been very average since the NBA All-Star break—they're just 8-8 in their last 16 games—and they're playing their worst basketball of the season right now. So it'll be interesting to see if Carlisle's comments light a fire up under this team.

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[via ESPN Dallas]

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