Dirk Nowitzki made his season-ending comments to the press on Thursday.

Asked what factors will weigh in his decision about his free agency, he replied: "I don't know. This is all pretty fresh. I just have to keep my options open at this point, see what's going on.

"Got to get over this disappointment for a while; probably drown my sorrows for a bit. And then I'll start thinking about stuff like that in a week or two. But as of now, I just want to keep my options open and see what happens."

Someone asked Nowitzki whether he expects to be recruited by other teams, particular the Phoenix Suns, who have close friend and former teammate Steve Nash.

"I mean, all that, as of now everything is just speculation. I always said I want to finish my career here in Dallas. It wouldn't feel the same putting on a different uniform. That always was my plan, so we'll just have to wait and see."

Nowitzki also was asked if he could envision taking less money to play with another team in order to win a championship.

"Well, I think that's somewhere maybe down the line, in a couple more years when stuff hasn't worked out the way I want it to. But at this point I'm still in my prime. I feel I've got a couple more good years left. I think that's a decision that's way down the line."

A TNT cameraman took video of Mark Cuban with his head down in the Dallas locker room following their elimination from the 2010 NBA Playoffs, but the owner had a media rep to obtain the tape.

He eventually spoke to members of the media.

"Congratulations to the Spurs. George Hill emerged as the star and really was the difference-maker. They deserve to win. They're a Texas team, so I guess I'll be rooting for them the rest of the way. I'm proud of our guys and the way they kept on fighting back," Cuban said. "I'm not so proud of the NBA.

"I'm not proud of my inability over the last 10 years to have an impact like I want to have, so I kind of feel like I owe fans an apology, but that's just the way this business goes, but congratulations to the Spurs."

Following the Mavericks elimination from the playoffs on Thursday, Dirk Nowitzki was asked if he might opt to become a free agent.

"I wanted to obviously have a long playoff run here and go for my dream again," Nowitzki said. "And now I'm just obviously too shocked and too disappointed.

"I haven't really thought anything about my future yet. I guess I've got some time now to think about some stuff, think about my options."

Nowitzki has until July to decide about free agency.

"Everything's too fresh right now. I've got some time to think about some stuff."

Tim Donaghy, a former NBA referee and author of Personal Fouls, talked about Danny Crawford and his record officiating the Mavericks  and how referees see Mavericks owner Mark Cuban.

Donaghy says Crawford's record officiating games with the Mavericks is suspect and that Cuban still makes the Mavericks a target.

?I write about this a lot in the book ?Personal Foul? that Danny was pretty much proud of the fact that what his record was while refereeing Dallas Mavericks playoff games so I don?t know that it is a streak that he wants to keep alive or what the story is with that, but I just think that it is almost humanly impossible a referee could have that record with one team during playoff games alone.?

Game 6's referee crew will be Eddie F. Rush, Bill Spooner  and Tom Washington.

Mavericks owner Mark Cuban says the result of the team's first-round series against the Spurs won't affect the status of head coach Rick Carlisle.

"I mean, it's not something we'll evaluate now," Cuban said prior to Game 5. "It's not something we'll evaluate this summer. I don't see what would change anything."

Dallas is 105-59 in two regular seasons until Carlisle, but they have yet to live up to their championship expectations.

"No decisions we're going to make are going to be based off of this series," said Cuban. "Or next series or the series after that."

Mavericks forward Eduardo Najera was automatically ejected in Sunday's Game 4 loss to the Spurs after committing a Flagrant 2 foul on Manu Ginobili.

The NBA reviewed the play and decided that no further discipline was necessary.

A review is standard policy for a Flagrant 2, as is an automatic ejection.

Dallas Mavericks? center Erick Dampier has been fined $35,000 for publicly criticizing game officials, it was announced today by Stu Jackson, NBA Executive Vice President, Basketball Operations.

Dampier was fined for comments made to the media following the Mavericks? 94-90 loss to the San Antonio Spurs in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference First Round on April 23.

Mavericks forward Shawn Marion believes that the team can charge back from their 3-1 deficit against the Spurs.

Only eight teams (out of 189) in NBA history have managed to win a playoff series after trailing 3-1.

"I've been in this situation," Marion said. "It can be done.

"I don't see no fat lady."

Marion helped the Suns complete a comeback from a 3-1 deficit back in 2006.

The Mavericks are down 3-1 to the Spurs in their first round series and fans in Dallas may be beginning to become disillusioned with their chances.

Game 1 scored a combined 13.1 rating on Channel 21 and TNT locally, while Game 2 scored a 10.0, Game 3 had a 9.9 rating and Game 4 will likely be an 8.5.

The audience plummeted from 332,740 homes at the optimistic start of the playoffs to 215,900 homes for Sunday's Game 4.

Mavericks center Erick Dampier is upset over the officiating in Game 3 of the team's game against the Spurs.

"When we play defense we're under a magnifying glass, but when we're on offense, there's no magnifying glasses," Dampier said.

"You've got to call it both ways. Dirk Nowitzki drives, he doesn't get fouled. They drive on the other end and they get the little ticky-tack fouls. So keep it consistent, that's all. Don't be one way or the other."

In Games 2 and 3, Dallas has been called for 43 fouls against just 31 for San Antonio.

"It's on us, too," Dampier said. "We've got to take the ball to the basket, make contact, draw the foul and go to the free-throw line."