NBA -- Cuban crisis: Mavericks owner fined $50,000

CHICAGO -- "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say it," so says an old saying.

But don't tell that to Mark Cuban, the billionaire owner of the NBA's Dallas Mavericks who has never been known to hold his tongue.

Following his team's recent failures, the likeable Cuban went on Twitter and tweeted his unhappiness towards the men in zebra stripes. "I'm sorry NBA fans. I've tried 13 years to fix the officiating in this league. and I have failed miserably. Any suggestions? I need help."

The NBA, which never takes verbal assaults on officiating lightly, didn't tweet back. But the league slapped Cuban with a $50,000 fine.

To the regular Joe, $50,000 is a ton of money. But for the 54-year old Cuban, who has a net worth of $2.3 billion, 50K is a small drop in the golden bucket. Through the years, Cuban has been fined by the NBA for over $1.6 million involving at least 14 incidents.

Jeff Caplan of NBA.com reports that the league might also look into the comments made by Mavericks head coach Rick Carlisle following Dallas' 100-94 loss to the Utah Jazz on January 7 at the Energy Solutions Arena.

"Yeah, they went to a, basically thugging it up, and that's when the game turned. I think that's when the officiating went their way. That's when they started to get calls and then we weren't. We weren't able to get the whistles, probably a function of their aggressiveness, but at the same time I thought there were a couple times where a whistle could have blown for us," Carlisle told reporters. (HDS)