DALLAS – It’s one thing for Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, a man known for his trash-talking prowess, to throw a few verbal jabs at Dwight Howard.

But for Vince Carter to get in on the act?

That’s what happened during a timeout in the second quarter Wednesday. Carter interrupted Howard’s one-sided discussion with an official to loudly and repeatedly tell the Rockets center that he was “the biggest crybaby I know.”

Carter, an Orlando resident who has played countless summer pickup games with Howard and spent a season and change as his teammate with the Magic, said after the game that they’re buddies. But Carter certainly didn’t back off his comment.

“All the time,” Carter said of Howard’s whining to officials. “He always talks about how I’m a crybaby. I was like, ‘Yo, you’re the biggest crybaby I know.’ And then later, he’s like, ‘Yo, why’d you say that to me?’ But I know Dwight. It’s all good, but he is [a crybaby].

“I mean, he takes a lot of punishment, but I’m like, ‘Yo, c’mon Dwight, c’mon. You elbowed, you’re sitting in the paint the entire time. What are you whining about?’ He told me to stop crying. I was like, ‘What? Are you serious?’”