Filed under: Jazz, Mavericks, Nuggets, NBA Coaches
DENVER -- Perhaps there never have been bigger opposites in the NBA than two who first met during a 2001 playoff series between Dallas and Utah."I blew him a kiss,'' Mavericks owner Mark Cuban remembered about his first encounter with legendary Jazz coach Jerry Sloan.
With Sloan having resigned Thursday midway through his 23rd season on the job, Cuban said in an interview with FanHouse he's always had great respect for the coach even if their initial meeting might have been a bit awkward from Sloan's end.
During a game in that 2001 first round, Cuban's first full season as Dallas owner, he said he ran into Sloan when Jazz guard John Stockton was at the free-throw line.
"Right when I got to the league, nobody knew what to expect from me,'' said Cuban, one of the NBA's more freewheeling guys while Sloan has been one of the more conservative, said before his team faced Denver on Thursday night at the Pepsi Center. "It was in a situation where it was in a playoff series that we ended up winning (with) Calvin Booth (hitting a late jumper in Game 5 to win 3-2). John Stockton went to the line with 2.7 seconds to go.
"While he was shooting his second free throw, I noticed there was 2.0 seconds to go. So I got a little upset. So I went over and I was like, 'What the hell is wrong with the scorer's table?' And (Sloan's) like, 'Look at him. What is he doing?' So I blew him a kiss.''
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Source: http://nba.fanhouse.com/2011/02/10/what-started-with-a-kiss-is-now-goodbye-from-mark-cuban-to-jerry/
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