NBA: Mavericks’ Carlisle Collapsed During Practice
Mavericks worried about their head coach after he collapsed at practice
Concern in Dallas Mavericks side. Head coach Rick Carlisle collapsed during practice to be immediately taken to the hospital where he was taken care. “Everything’s fine,” he would say after the incident which left everyone stunned. Carlisle will turn 51 at the end of the month, but looks perfectly healthy. The coach would mention in the same time that he won’t be part of Saturday’s exhibition game the Mavericks will play against Phoenix in Indian Wells, California. Thus, the team will be led by Dwane Casey tomorrow. Fortunately, the incident that scared the many though didn’t seem too serious, realizing that the 50-year-old, who was joined by the team personnel in the way to a nearby hospital, answered to all the questions while being carried on the stretcher to an ambulance.
“I got up early, had breakfast, took my daughter to school, came in, worked out, had a couple of Balance bars, a couple Mountain Dews, had a staff meeting and got ready for practice. I got to feeling a little lightheaded, fainted and, before I knew it, they were pulling me out of there on a stretcher,” he said, but then immediately looked well to ease everyone around. “Everything’s fine. I’m looking forward to taking a day or two here to spend a little time with my daughter. I’ll be back at it on Monday,” the head coach added, while Nelson made some jokes on the situation. “The ballboys forgot to do the laundry. He got lightheaded and fainted, and who hasn’t done that? You take every precaution when it does happen, and so we wanted to make sure everything was perfect. And it is. We were going through warm-ups. Nothing out of the ordinary. It happens. Just when it does happen, it catches you off guard and you have to take every precaution.” It was the same Nelson who reminded a similar incident that happened many years ago when Hank Gathers, a standout basketball player at Loyola Marymount, collapsed on the court as the death followed immediately. This made actually Nelson become aware that such cases might reserve unhappy moments.
“I was there the night that Hank Gathers went down. And when stuff like that happens, you take fainting a whole lot differently. It’s something you have to take seriously. We did, and everything has checked out. So we just turn the page and move on from here.” However, Carlisle assistant Terry Stotts was there on the court when the head coach collapsed. He saw him pale and also alert while talking with his staff mates. “We’re all concerned about him and hopefully everything is OK and it’s just a one-time thing,” he said, while point guard Jason Kidd also claimed he heard when Carlisle collapsed. “We don’t know what the situation is. Basketball is our job, but life comes before our job or anything else. Your well-being is the most important thing. That’s our coach and our family member. We got to make sure he’s all right and we’ll go from there.”
Carlisle followed an exhibition-game win on Thursday against Chicago Bulls. He arrived in Dallas after stints with the Pistons and Pacers. This would be also named as NBA’s coach of the year in his first season, leading Detroit in 2001-2002 season to a 50-32 record.
