Mavericks' Cuban fined $100,000 for 'inappropriate language'

(Reuters) - Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has been fined $100,000 for confronting game officials with "inappropriate language" after Wednesday's 129-127 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers, the National Basketball Association said. Cuban's on-court actions occurred after the Mavericks blew a 17-point lead over the Clippers with four-and-a-half minutes remaining in a wildly fluctuating encounter at the Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles. "It was like a playoff game the last three or four minutes, everybody was mouthing back and forth and getting techs, and it became a brawl out there," veteran Mavericks forward Shawn Marion told reporters after the game. "But if you let that take away from what your main focus is - executing at both ends of the floor - then it's going to take you out of your game." The Mavericks lost despite outscoring the Clippers 60-40 in the paint, and outrebounding them 47-38, as both teams shot more than 50 percent from the field. (Reporting by Mark Lamport-Stokes in Los Angeles; Editing by Peter Rutherford)