'Mavs V. World'
 A Purposeful Rallying Cry
Mike Fisher -- DallasBasketball.com - Posted: 2004-01-16 00:00:00.000


By Mike Fisher -- DallasBasketball.com
"It was a feeling,’’ Steve Nash said this week, “ of us against the world."
And this is how the Fast-Forward To Full Throttle begins: The Mavs against the world.
COWLISHAW ON NELLIE
MAVS-SIXERS BOXSCORE
PHILLY PAPERS
BARRYSTICKETS.COM
Call me an eternal optimist (or, if you must be crude, a “homer’’). But when the Coney Island roller-coaster ride was over in NYC, the Mavs captured an OT win. On Wednesday came a similar ride, this time lasting two OTs before the Mavs could thrillingly dispose of visiting Philly, 125-122.
“Us against the world,’’ Nash said.
Call me an unofficial relative of Don Nelson (or, if you must be crude, an “ass-kisser’’). But amid the avalanche-like rumors of Nellie’s coming demise (phrases like “he almost got canned’’ and “lame-duck’’ and “Riley’s on the way’’ are everywhere) is an opportunity. These players love Don Nelson. If you think I’m his boy, you should see what Nash and Finley and Nowitzki feel for the man. This team at this moment, coached by someone other than Nellie, is not an improved team.
“Us against the world,’’ Nash said.
It’s an opportunity, all this heat is. An opportunity to rally around Don Nelson, who was being more factual than cryptic the other night when he noted that other NBA coaches on the hot seat are “not alone in that field, by the way."
This is an opportunity for players to cool that seat by taking it upon themselves to prove that their eccentric-but-beloved boss is irreplaceable. (Honestly, can you envision Riles leaving his desk job in Miami at this moment? More odd, can you envision Nellie getting canned and then son Donnie and brotherly Del Harris saying, “OK, that’s fine, we’ll take over’’?)
I can, however, see Mark Cuban and Don Nelson sometime in the post-2003-04-season future coming together just enough to maybe decide that it’s time for an in-house change, a different button-pusher on the bench. Which would mean Nellie moving not out, but simply upstairs.
I can’t see it happening without a fight, however – nor without some fight from the players who support him.
“Us against the world,’’ Nash said.
Call me a football guy (or, if you must be crude, a “guy who got fired after 20 years of covering the NFL’’). But there is a formula here, a formula that can be borrowed from the way football works. It’s 53 guys hitting the road, dressed in matching blazers, flying on the same plane, then riding on the same bus, then eating the same meals, then attending the same meetings. They are brothers, the 53 of them, football family, soldiers in the same platoon, and there is precious little time on a Saturday night to visit with Mama and the cousins in this away-from-home town (“Friends and family,’’ Jimmy Johnson once ruthlessly told his Cowboys, “is what the off-season is for.’’)
And by the time Sunday comes – fueled by 24 straight hours of nothing but bonding with the other 52 guys – you are ready to fight.
“Us against the world’’? That’s how it works in football. The coach tells the 53 that they are given no chance by the media, that they are disliked by the league office, and that 65,000 humans in attendance are readying venomous words and liquored-up spittle.
And then they take the field. Here come the boos. Here comes the spit.
“Us against the world,’’ Nash said, and the opportunity was there again against Philly.
There were so many instances of how it can work:

  • Nash, performing with a hip so sore that it almost made him forget how sore his back is.
  • Antoine Walker, epitomizing this team’s potential unselfishness with a second straight triple-double, his 13 assists and 17 rebounds coming way ahead of his 11 points. As a team, the Mavs committed just six turnovers while recording 37 assists on 48 field goals. Textbook stuff.
  • Antawn Jamison carrying the Mavs in the second quarter and then barely appearing again in the game until very late, after Walker had fouled out, and nevertheless diving on the floor for loose ones, keeping offensive possessions alive with rebounds. … all stuff a disgruntled non-starter would never do.
  • And most of all Travis Best, out of the doghouse and into the spotlight, first as Nash’s caddie and later as his running mate and the designated Allen Iverson chaser. Best gets steals, offensive rebounds, game-winning free throws, the works. He finishes 5-of-6 for13 points, and suddenly, even though Tony Delk (ankle) might miss two weeks, Dallas’ bench looks a little less awful.
    These players adore Nellie. They showed that Wednesday. Contrary to what some national writers have scribbled, they are also fond of the guy who writes their massive checks, Mark Cuban. They showed that, too. But those stories get getting typed, as do the ones that have Antawn Jamison going to Portland and Michael Finley going to Chicago and Steve Nash going to Phoenix and Nellie going to Maui. All the Mavs, from the coach on down, are being told they are “soft,’’ “underachivers,’’ “disappointments,’’ “losers.’’
    Difficult times – “Us against the world’’ times – provide an opportunity to prove the critics wrong, an outlet to prove the players’ adoration and their fondness and their bond.
    And boy, were there moments when they proved it.
  • End of the third quarter. Jamison hits the floor (yea!) for an upcourt deflection. Best corrals it and pushes it into the lane and then passes on a shot (yea!) to shovel to Walker, who also passes on a shot (yea!) instead opting to dump to Finley, who finishes (yea!). All of this adds up to a 14-point lead going into the fourth.
  • Final two minutes of regulation, and Finley has launched another in a series of horribly forced shots. Philly is up by a point with under 40 seconds left as Eric Snow brings the ball up the floor, and Finley busts his ass to sneak up behind him for the steal! Fin to Nash to Best and Dallas gets a layup to go ahead at 36.2 seconds.
  • After ending both regulation and the first OT with an intense defensive stand, Dallas is up two points with 30 seconds left as Jamison misses an inside shot, gets his own board but misses again. … and 5-11 Travis Best slices inside for a third offensive rebound. He dishes to Nowitzki who hits the 15-footer to all but ice the thing.
    “Us against the world,’’ Nash said, and as a trick to Fast-Forward To Full Throttle, it’s a very valuable psychological tool.
    Call me a believer in the power of “Us against the world’’ (or, if you must be crude, a nerd who’s been watching too much “Dr. Phil’’), but I don’t think the Mavs are done just yet.