Lamar Odom returned to the American Airlines Arena for the first time as a member of the Los Angeles Clippers to take on the Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday, and he got the reception he was likely expecting. The fans were all over Odom from the start, booing him as he was removing his warm-up attire and every time he touched the ball after that.
Mark Cuban, who watched the game from his family vacation spot in the Cayman Islands, was quite pleased with the result of the 109-102 overtime victory. He was also happy with the way the fans treated Odom.
“Absolutely,” Cuban said before Thursday’s game against the Pacers when asked if he was proud of the fans, via ESPNDallas.com. “I was proud of the way everybody received Jet. Proud of the energy the crowd had [Tuesday night]. You could feel it through the TV. We felt it in the Caymans.”
Cuban was referring to the warm reception that Mavericks fans gave Jason Terry when the Boston Celtics visited. He thought Terry deserved an ovation, just as he thought Odom deserved to have boos rained down on him for the way things turned out last season.
Earlier this week, Odom admitted that he would probably apologize to Cuban if he had a conversation with him, but also said he feels no guilt over what transpired. He used a bizarre metaphor about people being married for 40 years to describe his stance, which Cuban had some fun with.
“You might be married to somebody for 40 years and then go to the Caymans,” Cuban joked. “You might just go the Caymans one time and just move there and live there for 100 years. That’s just a thing a man has to figure out.”
It’s quite obvious that Cuban has really grown to hate Lamar. However, he did say he would be willing to speak with Odom and that he is never one to hold grudges.
“Look, there’s only one person, two maybe that I still hold grudges against and neither are basketball related,” Cuban said. “You guys thought the same thing about [Don Nelson]. Nellie and I get along great. So …”
That should be interesting.
