On his Insider blog, ESPN's Marc Stein reports some of Mark Cuban's pre-game comments, uttered during Cuban's pre-game stairmaster session:
On losing in the first round and whether that would prompt him to sell:
"If you haven't noticed, it's been seven years and I don't have any jewelry. . . . As long as nothing happens with the league that gets me to the point where I can't deal with [NBA politics] any more, then I'm going to [keep] the Mavs. It has nothing to do with winning or losing. Not at all."
On leaving the NBA to try Major League Baseball instead:
"[There are fans in Chicago] hoping that I sell the team and buy [the Cubs]? No. They're not connected at all."
On the natural inference from the previous comment that he can afford someday owning the Cubs or his hometown Pittsburgh Pirates and simultaneously operate the Mavs:
"Exactly."
On Dirk Nowitzki's struggles in the series:
"I trust Dirk, I trust the team, I trust Avery [Johnson]. That's the nice thing about this group of guys. There's no question about how hard they work. They're not leaving early to go get a beer."
On whether he'll keep this team together if it loses in the first round:
"I like this team. I like the way we've put this team together. . . . This is not a team you blow up. This is not a team where you need a lot of changes."
By the way, in case you're not watching right now, Dallas vs. Golden State is a great game. No surprise, right?
