Mavs-Nuggets Homeland Security? Level Red

For Game 5: Less Worries About Who's 'Da Baddest Bitch,' OK?

Mike Fisher -- DB.com

   So are we going to let this die? Or will a “He Said/She Said’’ mindset prevail? Let it die? Or keep up this high-school ‘hood game of “You Gonna Let Him Punk You Like That’’? Is Kenyon Martin going to accept Mark Cuban’s apology? Or is he going to personally seek out every Mavericks fan in Dallas to “f--- you up’’? Is George Karl going to do his part to cool this down? Or is he going to try to incite a retaliatory riot in Denver on Wednesday?

    The AAC was a powder keg on Monday, the Game 4 Mavs-Nuggets so Homeland Security Level Red that our friends at Deadspin have taken to linking up to DallasBasketball.com’s coverage of the volatility.

   The 119-117 Mavs win, which staves off elimination and pulls Dallas to 1-3 in the series, deserves to be most notable for Dirk’s 44-point marvel. He treated the guests impolitely in the basketball sense. But otherwise, the rudest thing Nowitzki did all night was angrily throw a piece of debris off the floor after some of the 20,000 Mavs fans in attendance lost control of themselves.

    Yes, some were throwing trash onto the court in protest of a refereeing crew that they found disagreeable. (Dear friends: We are starting to look a little silly acting like ALL the refs are anti-Mavs.)

     Reportedly, ‘Melo’s sweetheart, the TV personality Lala, left the arena in the fourth quarter after being hooted at. Some of the Dallas fans appeared to be verbally harassing K-Mart’s family – or maybe K-Mart’s family was doing some harassing, too. … and then, it seems, some moron tossed a beer at the matriarch of the Martin family.

    Want me to tell you what we saw, from fairly close range?

    While one report alleges that K-Mart’s mom and stepfather habitually sit calmly and quietly in their seats, I did not see that on Monday. It’s impossible to know who started it, but during a timeout early in the second, fans and the K-Mart family were all … well, talking. K-Mart’s girlfriend, the singer Trina, was in the mix, too. (My friend Cash Sirois from Fox Sports Southwest says Trina was “throwing punches and was ejected.’’ I haven’t confirmed that. But even the Denver paper concedes that she responded to taunts by throwing something at fans. So her fine album, “Da Baddest Bitch,’’ is not an example of false advertising.) And then Kenyon came to the scorer’s table and he started yelling at people in the audience.

    According to Art Garcia, that sounded something like this: 

   “You (expletive) better cut the (expletive),” he shouted at fans, as team personnel tried to pull him back to the huddle. “You’re going to get (expletive) up.”

    Martin then said to his mother: “Somebody do something to you, you better tell me. I’m going to (expletive) somebody up.”

    Who started it? Who knows?

    Who is guilty of losing control of themselves? Lots of folks.

Martin had vowed early on Monday to visit with Mavs owner Mark Cuban to clear up an apparent Game 3 exchange between Momma and the owner. Instead, the Nuggets spoke after the game as if the matter wasn’t settled.

     Moments earlier, K-Mart had walked off the floor yelling in the general direction of Cuban.

    So I will assume the coffee klatch is yet to be scheduled. But I do know who is trying to end it.

    Mark Cuban. With an apology.

    One more problem: According to Yahoo Sports, Kenyon Martin isn’t quite ready to let it end. He didn’t meet with Cuban (and in fairness, this happened before he was aware of Cuban’s public apology). But he did continue to “stand up for his mom,’’ if that’s what you really call this, by going out of his way to scream at fans who lingered at the Old No. 7 Club.

    As Yahoo writes it:

    As K-Mart strolled down the hallway to the American Airlines Center’s loading dock, he passed a handful of Dallas Mavericks supporters still reveling in an arena bar.

   “(Expletive) you (expletives)!” Martin shouted, flashing his middle finger for emphasis. “We ain’t coming back here!”

   Me? I’m not sure what that has to do with defending Kenyon Martin’s mother. I am also unclear as to Denver coach George Karl’s allegation that he "would probably use an uglier word than hostile, but I'm not going to do that right now. I don't think it was very classy. I've been in hostile buildings, but you can do it in a classy way."

   Thanks, Emily Post. Is that comment designed to cool tempers, or to incite a riot?

   And George, what “classy way’’ would that be? Screaming the f-word and flipping off paying customers who are behind a brick-and-glass wall? 

   Denver exex Rex Chapman (is he still alive?) said it was about the most volatile gym he’d ever been in. My man Mark Followill, the Voice of the Mavs who joins me on MavsBlogRadio podcasts here, concedes that the place felt like it was going to explode in anger, starting with ‘Melo punch/shove that wasn’t harshly penalized, then moving to fans chanting “You Suck, Refs!’’ and then moving to. … where?

    Where does it end?

   It will help that on Wednesday, Cuban won’t be in the building. (He’s got to be in Vegas to accept a CLIO Award, a promise he made a while back to his wife.) It will also help that Cuban has not only apologized to the Martins and the Nuggets but is also going on record as saying he’ll be involved in helping the NBA craft rules about who should and should not be on the floor in postgame situations that can devolve into human hurricanes.