Brian Dameris, the Dallas Mavericks studio analyst for Bally Sports Southwest who delivered a diatribe against James Harden earlier in the season, missed Wednesday night’s broadcast as Harden and the Los Angeles Clippers took down the Mavs in Dallas.
The situation may have been just an unfortunate coincidence, but it certainly attracted attention among NBA fans considering how strongly Dameris criticized Harden last month.
The Clippers’ victory increased their win streak to nine games and moved them to tied for fourth in the loss column in the NBA’s Western Conference standings.
The team’s success is quite the opposite from what Dameris predicted.
“With this team, you’re going to go and point fingers at everybody else, and you’re going to go back home and you’re going to starting swiping right for another team, and there’s not going to be anybody left,” Dameris said as part of a lengthy rant on Nov. 11. “Because James, you’re not the beard, you’re not the system, you’re the problem.”
After initially posting the rant to X, Bally Sports Southwest later deleted the post and any reference to the comments on its website.
Less than a week later, Dameris apologized live on Bally Sports Southwest.
“Sports are a vehicle to bring people together and uplift one another,” he said. “There’s enough tearing us apart in this world for me to be adding to it. I don’t want to be that person and I will be better. I am sorry.”
Anchor Dana Larson and analyst Devin Harris held down the fort for Wednesday’s broadcast in Dameris’ stead as Dallas lost, 120-111, at home.
