Amar’e Stoudemire reached a buyout agreement with the New York Knicks and joined a championship contender as he desired, the Dallas Mavericks. The Mavericks hold the 7th seed but in the gritty Western Conference that could easily change. Stoudemire noted that and the fact that the Mavericks haven’t been playing as well as he hoped. Disgusted and disappointed after their most lopsided loss of the season, he delivered a stern message to his new teammates Tuesday night.
“I came here to win, and we’re [4 ½] games out of being out of the playoffs, which is unacceptable,” Stoudemire said after the Cleveland Cavaliers cruised to a 127-94 win over the Mavs at the American Airlines Center. “This is something we can’t accept. We’ve got to find a way to refocus. We’ve got to key into the details of the game of basketball.”
“We can’t cheat the game. We can’t screw around in games and practices and joke around all the time and figure we’re going to win games. This is the pros. It’s the highest level of basketball. We’ve got to act that way.”
The Mavs are 5-6 since the post-All-Star break arrival of Stoudemire. The rout by the Cavs was the third time the Mavs have lost by at least 15 points in the past six days, as they were blown out by the Portland Trail Blazers and Golden State Warriors on their recent road trip.
