Rick Carlisle insists he’s holding up fine. “Great,” in fact, is how he puts it. Thanks for asking. Nothing to see here.
It’s difficult, though, to watch Carlisle these days without wondering. In 15 years as an NBA head coach, he’s never had a season remotely like the one his Mavericks are enduring.
The 4-17 record Dallas brought into Friday night’s game against Indiana at American Airlines Center was momentous, if that’s the right word, in that it was the first time one of Carlisle’s teams had fallen 13 games below .500.
The Mavericks’ 111-103 victory at least briefly lifted Carlisle out of the uncharted abyss, but at these depths the challenge for the rest of the season remains unchanged.