Nash and Nowitzki earned invitations Tuesday to the annual NBA showcase of the league's top talent when both were selected by coaches to be reserves on the Western Conference All-Star team.

The honor for the three Mavericks comes just three years removed from when all were doubted individually and blamed collectively for the Mavericks' woes. The Mavericks were 19-31 the first year all three were together. They've improved to the second-best record in the league.

"We've seen this team at the bottom when we first got here," Nash said. "For us to be a part of that turnaround and see our friendship grow along with it is special."

By RICHARD ALM / The Dallas Morning News

Belo said Wednesday that it sold its minority stake in the Dallas Mavericks and American Airlines Center to Mark Cuban, the team's owner.

The Dallas-based media company said it would receive $27 million for its 12.38 percent share of the National Basketball Association team and its 6.19 percent stake in the new downtown arena where the Mavericks and Dallas Stars play. Belo announced in July 1999 that it had paid $24.5 million to become part-owner of the Mavericks.

Belo also withdrew the lawsuit it filed against Mr. Cuban that alleged that he reneged on an agreement to purchase the Belo stake under the same financial terms offered to former Mavericks owner Ross Perot Jr.

Don't blame this on Michael Finley. Resist the urge to correlate the swingman's return to the lineup with the Mavericks' 117-100 loss to the LA Clippers, their first stumble in eight games.

He was, definitely, not the cause for the effect.
Because Finley, it turns out, was just fine Tuesday in front of a sold-out American Airlines Center. He worked his way back into the rotation, showed no signs of favoring the strained left hamstring that forced him to sit 13 games, and contributed 29 solid minutes, hit 6-of-11 shots and recorded 14 points.

Steve Nash has ridden astounding team success to some personal basketball glory.

The Dallas Mavericks point guard, a native of Victoria, was named to the NBA's Western Conference all-star team yesterday. He is the first Canadian to receive that honour.

Nash has led the Mavericks to a 32-13 record and first place in the Midwest Division, including last night's 117-100 loss at home to the Clippers.

"I don't think it's really sunk in yet," Nash said. "But we've got a lot of team goals we're concentrating on, so maybe that's why. It's a great honour, though."

Averaging more than 19 points and eight rebounds, Nash is having by far the best of his six years in the NBA.

He and teammate Dirk Nowitzki were both added to the all-star team in a poll of Western Conference coaches while Dallas coach Don Nelson will be the team's head coach for the Feb. 10 game.

Well, it's not quite in the same class as "man bites dog," but Mark Cuban refereeing a game should be quite a laugh.

Especially since one of the teams is the Harlem Globetrotters.  The Associated Press reports that Cuban will ref the first quarter of the Globetrotters' game against the infamous New York Nationals on Friday night in Dallas.

Cuban said, "I'm excited to add officiating along with Dairy Queen on my resume."  In anticipation of a lot of fouls being called, the Globetrotters are adding extra players to the roster.

There are plenty of people who claim Mark Cuban is crazy.

Clearly, that's wrong.

"Crazy" is a term applied to the average guy. Those as rich as Cuban, the Dallas Mavericks' owner, are labeled "eccentric."

That label would be harder to dispute, but if you talk to Cuban for just a few minutes, you might just start thinking he's eccentric like a fox.

That you could talk to him without much difficulty is another thing that separates him from the usual ownership mold, and in fact just might make him the Bill Veeck of his generation.

Veeck, the late Hall of Fame baseball owner, was considered a maverick for keeping a listed phone number, sitting with fans, having an almost unparalleled touch for marketing and promotions, and jousting with the commissioner's office.

Cuban, who literally is a Maverick, invites e-mails from fans, is not above sitting in the cheap seats and voices great concerns about NBA marketing. His accumulated $1,005,000 in fines attests to his relationship with NBA commissioner David Stern.

It's the fines that have garnered the most attention. Cuban expresses no regrets at the seven-figure redistribution of funds resulting from his assessment of NBA officiating, and says they're not the uncontrolled outbursts of some loose-cannon fan, as they're often depicted.

"I don't say anything without having thought about it," he said, eating a $5 meal in the press room at the Staples Center.

"Maybe the first fine ... was in passion. But this year in particular, I've never regretted anything along the way. It's not a matter of me thinking more. It's a matter of asking others to think more."

Cuban didn't get into the NBA as a business, but the business side of it clearly frustrates him. He decries the lack of open dialogue in the NBA, saying some owners don't even bother to attend league meetings any more. And he says that lack of dialogue is particularly frustrating because of some of the astute businessmen who are in the league.

Mike Fisher writes in an annoying LOTR-spoof style that Mark Cuban's behind-the-scenes criticisms of officiating have been calls that have gone for the Mavs as well as against.  And, he says, of the 42 games played so far, Cuban has identified 12 that were prejudiced by the referees.

Dallas Mavericks coach Don Nelson qualified to coach the Western Conference's team in the All-Star Game when the Lakers lost to Philadelphia on Sunday, reports the Star Telegram's Dwain Price.  The loss dropped L.A. percentage points below Dallas.  Sacramento leads the Western Conference in wins, but coach Rick Adelman participated in last year's event and so is ineligible.  Nelson is excited about the appointment because of what it indicates about how far the Mavericks have come.

Byron Scott of the New Jersey Nets will coach the East.

In the NBA Rookie Challenge, the Sophomores will be coached by former coach Billy Cunningham, assisted by Bobby Jones.  The Rookies will be coached by Chuck Daly with Darryl Dawkins as his assistant.  Except for Daly, all the coaches had played for Philadelphia, the city that is hosting the event.

In a purely hypothetical piece, Chicago Tribune writer Sam Smith explores deals that, while not being chased by teams' respective managements, all make sense.

In Dallas the Mavericks are 12-1 since All-Star Michael Finley went down injured, and coach Don Nelson loves the play of Adrian Griffin.  Utah Jazz future hall of famer Karl Malone is anything but immune to trade talk, often sparking it himself.  Would the teams bite on a Finley and Shawn Bradley for Malone trade?

As has been mentioned so many times in the past, have the Los Angeles Clippers soured on Lamar Odom?  The versatile forward is injured once again, and while he is averaging a career low 13.1 points per contest the team is high on Elton Brand, the power forward taken first overall in the same draft.  Both are up for extensions, Michael Olowokandi will be a free agent before them, and then Darius Miles and Quentin Richardson are up for their pay day.  Something has to give for the league's cheapest owner by reputation.

Finally Smith notes that Milwaukee playing Tim Thomas off the bench cannot be a viable solution for the Bucks, and it is starting to cost them games.  In their double overtime loss to the Knicks their height, or lack thereof, was exposed.  With enough scoring already would the combination of Dale Davis and Bonzi Wells from Portland be enticing enough?

Pffffffffffffffffftt.
The Denver Nuggets had that familiar deflated feeling Thursday night. Any air of confidence gained from topping the world champions must have disappeared somewhere over Utah.

Two nights after an improbable road win against the Los Angeles Lakers, the Nuggets fizzled in the final three quarters of a 104-97 loss to the Dallas Mavericks.