S. Williams, M.D.
 Newcomer Boosts Mavs Over GS
Mike Fisher -- DallasBasketball.com - Posted: 2004-02-04 00:00:00.000


By Mike Fisher -- DallasBasketball.com
      Assorted impressions from Mavs 107, Warriors 93:
BARRY’S TICKETS
MAVS-WARRIORS BOX
WARRIORS NEWS
     

  • It took Scott Williams exactly one game to leapfrog over specialist centers Shawn Bradley and Danny Fortson as a Nellie favorite. Williams received 11 minutes in his first game action here and played with an interior aggression that put the coach in a comfort zone. Think of it this way: Scott Williams is like your old family doctor. You wouldn’t go to him for brain surgery. But when it comes to little Suzie’s headcold, Ol’ Doc is very reliable.
         
  • When we’re throwing around names of Mavs who are deserving of All-Star honorable mentions, can we get Antawn Jamison in there? He did it again Tuesday, with 20 points and 12 rebounds against his old club, demonstrating as usual that he’s in a class with Walker, Nash, etc.
         
  • Speaking of Jamison, I’ve read a couple of articles now with the author (not Jamison himself) crying about his name being involved in trade rumors, whining because he’s too nice a guy, too loyal a guy, to be subjected to this. Besides my belief that Jamison is going nowhere, let me add. … Dear media: The legendary San Francisco 49ers featured the greatest quarterback of maybe all time, Joe Montana, the greatest safety of maybe all time, Ronnie Lott, and the greatest receiver of definitely all time, Jerry Rice. Montana finished in Kansas City, Lott left to play a year with the Raiders and the Jets, and Rice is toiling away in Oakland. And somebody thinks its unfair that Antawn Jamison, a Mav for all of three months, is a “victim’’ of trade rumors?
         
  • Dirk Nowitzki scored only nine points (it seemed like he was “floating’’ again). Interesting note: He pulled the jump hook out of his bag of tricks – though he missed the shot. Disturbing note: That was one of the few times The UberMan ventured inside, the place he ought to be when the offense isn’t flowing for him. I think Dirk and the Mavs do this backwards. When the 22-foot jumper isn’t dropping,I move in closer. When the Mavs’ 22-footers aren’t dropping, they start shooting from 23 feet.
         
  • Shooting coach Gary Boren’s pledge to us that Antoine Walker’s free-throw shooting would someday be so good that he’d make freebies to secure games in the final moments just ain’t happening. Walker was 0-3 from the line Tuesday, dropping his season free-throw percentage dangerously near the 50-percent mark.
         
  • Josh Howard is not the perfect young NBA player, despite another neat line: 26 minutes, 6-for-8 from the floor, 3-of-3 from the line, eight rebounds, two assists, a steal and a block. No, he’s not the perfect young NBA player. But as soon as he becomes more of a finisher around the basket, he will be.
         
  • The media is going to like Scott Williams as much as the coaching staff does if he keeps talking like this. A Williams quote on the complications of Del Harris’ defenses: "Del 's defensive playbook,’’ Williams says, “has more pages than the Bible.’’
         
  • Hate to use a stat in a way that makes he sound like some overly-reliant-on-old-school-stats-to-prove-a-point-junior-high-basketball-coach guy, but now, when the Mavs hold an opponent under 100 points, they are 22-4. Hmm. Keep the other guy from scoring 100 and you win 85 percent of your games!? Hmm.
         
  • While he still awaits the fully healthy return of Eduardo Najera, Nellie now feels he has a deep enough bench to avoid overplaying anyone – and to avoid relying on anyone who isn’t playing well. "The minutes are going to be harder to come by," Nelson said. "We have a lot of guys now, and I won't have to overplay anybody. If somebody is doing well, I'll play him. It doesn't matter if you're an All-Star, the Big Three or the Big Five. I'm going to play the guys who get the job done."
         
  • We all love Nick. But if he’s a member of your team and your team sucks, there is less to love. Van Exel staged a mini-show in the fourth quarter, before exiting the game, claiming “exhaustion.’’
         
  • That’s 20 straight wins over the Warriors. Conventional wisdom says that when one team beats another 20 straight times, it’s because Team B sucks. But Michael Finley – the leading scorer here with 23 and a master of unconventional wisdom – offers a kindler, gentler take: "We've been fortunate against Golden State, a team that always plays us tough, no matter what the roster is. They always bring out the best of us as a team."
          That’s right. Finley is saying the reason the Mavs have downed the Warriors 20 straight times is because the Warriors are so good.