Mavericks Capsules: With Cuban watching, Mavericks rout Bobcats 100-83

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Dirk Nowitzki scored 32 points, Josh Howard added 21 and the Dallas Mavericks never trailed in a 100-83 rout of the Charlotte Bobcats on Tuesday night, delighting owner Mark Cuban a day after he was charged with insider trading.

With Cuban sitting along the baseline and as animated as usual, the Mavericks toyed with the lifeless, undermanned Bobcats in their second straight win.

A career-high 21 points from rookie D.J. Augustin was nowhere near enough for Charlotte, which fell behind 15-0 while playing again without top scorer Jason Richardson (knee). The Bobcats didn't score until nearly 7 minutes had elapsed in a woeful performance that kept them winless all-time against Dallas.

With Nowitzki dominating the inside and adding nine rebounds, the Mavericks led by as many as 23 in a rare blowout after a horrible start to the season, made worse when their boisterous owner suddenly faced legal trouble.

The billionaire Cuban was charged by federal regulators Monday of using confidential information on a stock sale to avoid more than $750,000 in losses. Cuban has disputed the Security and Exchange Commission's allegations and said he will fight the charges.

He didn't seem bothered by his problems Tuesday. He chatted with players and staff members before the game, and joked with photographers and fans while sitting in the more than half-empty arena.

There was reason for Cuban to be upbeat: the Mavericks pitched the third-longest game-opening shutout in the NBA since the start of the 2002-03 season.

Shots fell harmlessly off the rim, when the Bobcats even got a shot off. Once Raymond Felton stepped on the sideline with nobody within 10 feet of him.

Charlotte went 0-for-9 from the field 0-for-2 from the foul line with three turnovers before Augustin's scoop shot with 5:20 left cut Dallas' lead to 15-2.

It was the longest game-starting scoring drought since Boston went 8 scoreless minutes against New Jersey on Dec. 9, 2006, according to STATS LLC. But unlike the Celtics, who came back to win 92-90, the Bobcats never threatened with a roster coach Larry Brown again called flawed before the game.

Felton and Wallace combined to miss their first 11 shots and finished 6-for-27 for 19 points. Sean May, benched by Brown earlier in the season because of conditioning issues, went scoreless points in 13 minutes. With Richardson missing his third straight game, the fifth-year Bobcats got only 26 points from their starters in falling to 0-9 against Dallas.

The Mavericks, who were 2-7 before rallying to beat New York on Sunday to snap a five-game losing streak, easily overcame the distractions from Cuban and Jerry Stackhouse, who was on the inactive list with his future uncertain as his agent explores a potential trade.

The most memorable moment of the second half may have been when a fan shouted "Put Cuban in!" with the Mavericks leading 68-46 late in the third quarter.

Notes: Brown said he would love if the Bobcats could sign F Antonio McDyess, who is without a job after Denver waived him after being involved in the Allen Iverson-Chauncey Billups trade. Brown coached McDyess in Detroit. "I have heard that he wants to reach out to me," Brown said. "He would be perfect for this team." ... Brown said May's weight is down to 273 pounds. "I just want him to be able to run up and down the court without getting tired," Brown said. ... Mavericks F Devean George missed his 11th straight game as his recovery from a hand injury remains slowed.

SEC charge will hit Cuban's ‘every fan' rep

DALLAS - Since buying the Dallas Mavericks eight years ago, Mark Cuban has turned the team around and made himself one of the most visible owners in pro sports. Along the way, he's picked up his share of critics.

Some say he's a nuisance to the NBA, with more than $1 million in fines held up as evidence. Some Mavs fans say his constant baiting of officials merely leads to more calls against the team. Even his dancing skills have been panned, drawing an early round ousting from "Dancing With The Stars."

But now Cuban is facing a much more serious allegation: The government saying he's an inside trader.

Federal regulators filed a civil lawsuit Monday accusing Cuban of using confidential information to bail out of an investment and avoid about $750,000 in losses. Cuban denies doing anything wrong and insists his name will be cleared.

Even if he loses in court, Cuban's penalties would be strictly financial - perhaps close to $3 million. Martha Stewart settled the civil part of her insider-trading case, but ended up going to prison for criminal charges related to it. Cuban isn't facing criminal charges.

"It is a fascinating case," said Harold Degenhardt, who spent nine years prosecuting securities fraud as head of the Fort Worth office of the Securities & Exchange Commission and another 25 defending them in private practice. "This is a very difficult case for the SEC. I don't think they brought it lightly."

According to the SEC case, Cuban told his broker to sell all his shares of Mamma.com after the company's CEO confidentially told him of a stock offering that would dilute the value of all existing shares, including Cuban's. By selling before the information became public and the price fell, Cuban avoided losses exceeding $750,000, the SEC said in its lawsuit.

However, on Cuban's blog Tuesday was a statement from his attorneys that cites an interview with the CEO in which he says there was no agreement to keep information confidential.

Thus, Degenhardt said late Tuesday, this could turn into a he-said, she-said trial, and those are always risky.

"What was he told and what did he agree to?" Degenhardt said. "It's all going to boil down to who is believed."

However this plays out, it's a hit on Cuban's reputation as the Everyman fan who hit the Internet lottery, became a billionaire and bought his favorite team.

He'll certainly have to endure a new round of trash-talking from rival fans, even if NBA sanctions are uncertain. The league isn't commenting, but other owners who've brought the NBA shame through personal or professional actions haven't been punished by commissioner David Stern.

To fans of the Chicago Cubs, this case is likely another strike against Cuban's chances of buying the club. That is, if he hadn't already struck out.

While plenty of Cubs fans think an infusion of Cuban's cash and passion is exactly what the team needs to end its now 100-plus-year championship drought, there have been questions ever since Cuban submitted his bid about whether the exclusive club of MLB owners would allow him to join them. They have the power to keep him out, too, because it takes a three-fourth vote to approve any sale - even if Cuban is the highest bidder and current owner Sam Zell wants to sell to him.

Red Sox owner John Henry told The New York Times this summer that "the commissioner's office abhors owners who speak their minds and fight for the rights of their respective franchises." But he also told the Times there was "no one better suited to reverse the fortunes of the Cubs for the long term" than Cuban.

Lately, reports have indicated Cuban's offer is no longer being considered, and the lack of response from the baseball world in the wake of Monday's accusations suggests that Cuban's case may not matter because he is not an owner-in-waiting.

"Something like this, those that are against him can use it as additional fodder," said Phillip L. Stern, a Cubs fan who spent 10 years with the Securities and Exchange Commission in Chicago and now specializes in white-collar crime as a partner for Chicago law firm Neal, Gerber & Eisenberg.

In March 2007, Forbes magazine estimated Cuban's net worth at $2.3 billion, up from around $1.8 billion near the time of the trade that's being scrutinized by the SEC. For someone in that financial stratosphere, saving $750,000 doesn't seem worth the risk of ruining a clean reputation.

Stern and Degenhardt said it happens all the time.

"Many times I wondered, ‘Why would a person do this? They don't need the money,"' Degenhardt said.

Degenhardt said the SEC has been looking to make an example out of someone involved in a case just like this - a so-called private placement in public equity offering, which is known as a PIPE. He's curious to see whether they picked the right one.

"It isn't as if they have a tape they can play and show what transpired during those telephone calls. If they did, they would've played it," Degenhardt said. "This is not like Martha Stewart, who lied to SEC staffers. This is a case where Mr. Cuban disclosed he made trades and he disclosed he made them in a timely fashion."

The SEC also wrote that Cuban became upset and angry during the conversation with the CEO. At the end of the call, Cuban said, "Well now I'm screwed. I can't sell."

Cuban's anger and defiance also were a central theme in a several-year battle over unpaid compensation for Don Nelson, who was the Mavericks' coach and general manager when Cuban bought the club. Coincidentally, part of Cuban's defense was that Nelson used "confidential information" to guide the Golden State Warriors to their historic upset of the top-seeded Mavericks in the first round of the 2007 playoffs.

On Sept. 10, a federal arbitrator issued a final ruling of $7.1 million on Nelson's behalf. As of Tuesday, Cuban had yet to pay.

"This appears to be another case of ego and pride leading to activities of questionable credibility," said John O'Connor, Nelson's San Francisco-based attorney. "I hope for Mark's sake the allegations are not true, in which case we're with him 100 percent. But if they are true, he's lucky he's not wearing an orange jump suit."

-- Jaime Aron