AUBURN HILLS -- You hear that noise, kind of shrilly and annoying, coming from the South? It's another fine whine coming from deep in the heart of Texas. Mavericks owner Mark Cuban thinks the league's officials might be giving the Pistons and Spurs too much leeway during games, perhaps in deference to their reputations as tough, defensive teams. "What I don't understand is how the two most aggressive defensive teams in the league are Detroit and San Antonio," Cuban told the Dallas Morning News, "yet they've had the fewest fouls called against them. How does that happen? I don't understand it." The Pistons are being whistled for an average of 19.57 fouls a game, the lowest in the league. San Antonio is next at 21. Cuban's team picks up 23.7 fouls per game. "Yeah, well, the two most aggressive teams have the best records, too," Ben Wallace said. "That's not a coincidence. We play aggressive defense all the time. They (Mavericks) mostly try to outscore teams." Pistons coach Flip Saunders said that Cuban wasn't seeing the whole picture. "He grew up in Indiana," Saunders said. "He grew up watching Bobby Knight's teams. They were the most aggressive teams in the Big Ten and they didn't pick up a lot of fouls." Saunders' point being, the aggressive team usually gets the benefit of the whistle. "What good defensive teams do, a lot of times, is do their dirty work early," Saunders said. "You beat people to spots and you are quicker to where you are supposed to be. You create a situation where they are following you rather than you following them." By looking only at the numbers, Saunders said, Cuban was ignoring how the games are played. "Both us and San Antonio, although we are aggressive defensive teams, but we're not really high in creating turnovers and making steals," he said. "We might be aggressive on the ball, but everybody else is disciplined. We pack it inside. Teams like Charlotte, who get a lot of steals, they are more aggressive on the perimeter and pick up more fouls. Our aggressiveness is more on the inside, and the same goes for San Antonio. "To make a blanket statement like that, you aren't looking at the defense the teams are playing." Cuban made his statement in defense of Dirk Nowitzki, who the Mavericks think is taking a beating from opposing defenses nightly and not getting to the free-throw line nearly enough. His free-throw attempts are down two a game.
Cuban is a smart guy. There is an excellent chance that the Mavs and Spurs will meet in the WCF, and if they win the Pistons in the Finals. He's just trying to start inflencing the refs through the media earlier in the year than most would.
