Rick Carlisle shamefully likens Mavs loss to 'a Donald Trump debate performance'

Kelly Dwyer
Rick Carlisle, and the headset perched behind the back of his neck. (Getty Images)
Rick Carlisle, and the headset perched behind the back of his neck. (Getty Images)

The Dallas Mavericks opened up Wednesday evening’s exhibition game with the Houston Rockets by working themselves into a 21-4 hole to start the contest. Young swingman Justin Anderson entered the game soon after, taking part in a run that made things competitive yet again, but the Rockets hung on to down Dallas by a 106-91 score.

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We’d tell you more, but like most of North America we weren’t watching basketball games that don’t count on Wednesday. On most nights this would be because NBA exhibition basketball is a near-worthless enterprise for the paying fan, but on this particular evening it was because the third and final debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump took place.

Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle was one of the few that did watch that night’s Mavericks/Rockets blast – it is his job after all – and following the loss he took a calculated anticipation in comparing his team’s work to that of the Republican nominee for president:

Check the timestamp. It’s possible that Rick scrolled through his phone to glean some immediate reaction from the political pundits during the brief walk from the Mavericks’ locker room to the awaiting press area, but more than likely this was just a bit of strong guesswork.

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Though the reasons for Trump’s (still-arguable) second-place showing are significant and also legitimate.

Many people are already talking about how Clinton was made aware of moderator Chris Wallace’s questions before the event, Clinton was afforded the use of an intra-podium tablet to use to prop up her clearly declining memory and failing stamina, while Trump was cut off and prevented from making some of his more salient points by both the FOX News moderator and a faulty microphone stand that was constantly pushed out of place by the adverse and left-leaning layout at UNLV’s Thomas and Mack Center. We’re not going to say the debate was rigged, but you can make the obvious denouement for yourself. At the very least we all can conclude that the conditions were unfair at best.

With that in place, in spite of the many polls that accurately recognized Donald Trump’s obvious triumph, many pundits agreed that Clinton may have “won” this debate (though the real battle will take place this Nov. 28, on Election Day). This makes Rick Carlisle’s comments, made prior to watching the actual debate, all the more prescient. If not partisan and, ultimately, incorrect.

Of course, there is the significant possibility that Dallas Mavericks team owner Mark Cuban (a noted Trump traitor) was funneling his team’s coach information from UNLV while watching the debate, leading to Carlisle’s too-quick comments following his poor coaching job in the face of the Houston Rockets. If this is the case, then the NBA needs to look into the illegal chatter between both team owner and coach with alacrity.

The American public’s trust in the competitive fairness of preseason NBA basketball cannot be compromised.

And while we’d ask that Mr. Carlisle stick to sports, it’s obvious that the Dallas Mavericks (picked by many to miss the playoffs this season) hardly knows what he’s talking about in that arena, either.

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Kelly Dwyer is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at KDonhoops@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!