Cuban Sorry For Chalupa Fiasco

Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has apologized to the Cleveland Cavaliers for the "Chalupa Caper."

Cavs coach Randy Wittman said he received an e-mail from Cuban, who apologized for his and his team's behavior in last week's game when the Mavericks ran up the score in the final minutes to win their fans some free fast food.

"He said if they could do it over they would have handled it differently," Wittman said Tuesday night before the Cavs played the Los Angeles Clippers.

Wittman, who has known Cuban since their college days at Indiana, said he received the apology when he was in Houston last weekend.

Cuban was fined $10,000 enough to buy 10,101 chalupas and banned from Reunion Arena for two games for running onto the floor while the Cavs and Mavericks got into a shoving match at the end of Dallas' win last Thursday night.

Dallas tried to reach 100 points in the final seconds of a blowout win so fans could get coupons for 99-cent chalupas as part of a fast-food promotion.

Cuban has been fined a total of $405,000 this season for a variety of infractions.

Wittman said Cuban was sorry for the way the Mavericks handled the situation and felt bad about his involvement.

"It was just a short thing," Wittman said. "To me, it's water under the bridge and we move on. I thought I would hear something from him anyway. Since he's been involved in the league, we've stayed in touch."

Wittman was upset following the game, saying the Cavs wouldn't forget what happened.

And while he accepts Cuban's apology, Wittman maintains he would never allow his team to get caught up in trying to score points just to satisfy its fans.

In fact, the Cavaliers got booed earlier this year at home for running out the clock in a 99-92 win over Utah.

"I don't believe in trying to score another basket in that situation when the game is over and you're ahead," Wittman said. "You never try and embarrass the other team, the other coach or organization. That can do that.

"You try to do things for the fans and that's fine. That's what it's all about. If it happens in the course of the game, and you get 100 points, that's great. But when it comes down to 10 seconds and you call a timeout, draw up a play to get a chalupa. I would never do that."

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