Rick Carlisle
FameRank: 6

"Richard Preston "Rick" Carlisle" is the head coach of the Dallas Mavericks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He has also served as head coach of the Indiana Pacers and Detroit Pistons and was previously a player in the NBA.[http://www.nba.com/mavericks/news/Coaching_hire050708.html Mavericks: One and done: Carlisle tabbed to coach Mavs] He is also one of the only 11 people to win an NBA championship both as a player and as a coach.

File:Rick Carlisle.jpg/thumb/185px/right/Carlisle coaching the Mavs (2009)

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The guy's at the top of his game. It's a rare opportunity to see a guy perform at this level.

Our foul trouble made it tough. (Bryant) gets you into foul trouble, and double-teams get other people open shots. We mixed a lot of different things and some were effective. Other times, you just have to hope he misses.

We're going up against a guy who's playing a superhuman brand of basketball. He's looked invincible.

Michael Redd was a guy we talked a lot of about before the game. (Jackson) did a good job at the start and our whole team reacted to him.

You've got to have character to bounce back from a disappointing night like last night. You've got to have character and poise to withstand a furious run in a very loud building. You've just got to keep your boots strapped up and keep playing. Our guys did that and they earned the win.

There's no doubt right now that (Jackson) is our main guy. He's going to make some things happen for us. He's going to get some good looks at the basket.

He's a guy who can score, yet I don't see him referred to a lot as a big scorer. He's a winner. And he's done it in a lot of different situations.

We hung in, competed, and had chances. We created a lot of good looks for ourselves, but weren't able to make some of the easiest shots we had on the whole trip.

We had one of the best practices we've had in the 21/2 years I've been here. Guys really seemed committed to getting better. Little things like that are good signs. You hope it translates to the games, but you never know.