Cuban: “The Quieter I Got, The More We Won”

Dallas Mavericks’ owner Mark Cuban was quiet throughout these playoffs--so quiet, in fact, that his near-silence became a somewhat-noteworthy story--an interesting shift from his usual, effusive sideline demeanor and his refusal to pull punches when assessing a game.

Cuban hadn’t said much of anything publicly between the beginning of the playoffs and Sunday night. But after the Game 6 victory, with the Larry O’Brien Trophy wrapped up by his Mavericks, the owner opened up. He has since spoken, both to reporters and via Twitter, about a number of things--from the victory, to his feelings toward Dirk, to, yes, his uncharacteristic silence throughout the playoffs.

Unsurprisingly, Cuban’s quiet demeanor was by design.

"The big mystery, huh?" Cuban told reporters after the victory. "We had just done playing Portland and going to L.A. I knew the questions everybody was going to ask. They were going to ask me about my repartee with Phil Jackson and the things I said about Ron Artest. I didn't want to get in the middle of a back-and-forth about that. And then we went to Oklahoma City and I was going to get asked about why I didn't vote to have the Sonics move so close to me. Why didn't I vote against it? Then about 2006, it didn't make any sense to say anything.

“The quieter I got, the more we won. I didn't want to break the karma.”