‘On the Cusp’: Carlisle Praises Doncic, Mavs for ‘Playing the Right Way’

The Dallas Mavericks defeated the Indiana Pacers on Friday night, and Rick Carlisle had nothing but glowing things to say about his former team and Luka Doncic.

Emotions were running high on Friday night as Indiana Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle coached against his former team for the first time this season. The Dallas Mavericks gave Carlisle, who is normally able to keep his emotions in check, a touching video tribute before the game that led him to tears.

“I wasn’t expecting that,” said Carlisle. “The only other time I’ve felt that kind of emotional moment was when we raised the banner for the first game of the lockout-shortened season of 2011-12.

“It was the same kind of feeling, but I was not expecting anything like that. It was a wonderful gesture and much appreciated.”

The Mavs went on to blowout the Pacers by a 132-105 margin in front of a jam-packed American Airlines Center. Dallas’ performance drew ultimate praise from its former head coach.

"I just said it was good to see him,” said Kidd of his embrace with Carlisle after the game. “And then he said, 'You guys are playing the right way. You guys have a chance.' I said, 'Keep grinding, keep doing your thing and best of luck the rest of the way.'"

Although Carlisle’s departure from Dallas wasn’t the most ceremonious, any lingering hard feelings between him and his former players appeared to be water under the bridge for at least one night. 

"If [Luka’s] not the best player in the world, he's right on the cusp," said Carlisle, who got to see Doncic up close and personal for the first three seasons of his career.

Doncic put up 30 points, six rebounds and 12 assists while shooting 12-of-21 from the field and 4-of-9 from deep. With just six seconds remaining in the first half, Doncic went the full length of the floor and hit an insane step-back three from the corner as the buzzer sounded. He gave the AAC crowd a confident scowl as if to announce what kind of night it was going to be.

“That’s a team that's got a real chance,” Carlisle said of the Mavs. “Not only to come out of the West, but they're a good contender. They are very, very good.

“They are a well-oiled machine and playing at an extremely high level. I’m happy for them. I’m happy for Jason Kidd, happy for Mark [Cuban] – all the people are such great people and it’ll be interesting to watch them down the stretch of the season.”

With just 32 regular season games remaining, the Mavs (29-21) are closing in on the Jazz (30-20) for the fourth-seed in the Western Conference playoff standings. Although the Mavs seem more than capable of ending their decade-long drought of not winning a playoff series, they know as well as anyone that they have to prove themselves.

Rick Carlisle knows basketball as well as anyone does, though, so when a future Hall-of-Fame coach says the Mavs have a real chance of coming out of the West this year, it’s hard not to believe him.