Mavs Stop Sucking (Pacifiers): 12 Hairy-Chested Takes

Mike Fisher -- DB.com

My top 12 Hairy-Chested Takes from Saturday’s 111-91 win over some old pals dressed as New Jersey Nets:

1 Let’s start with a smiley face: The UberMan came into the game needing 34 points to become the Mavs’ all-time leading scorer. With 4:50 left in the fourth quarter. … Bing-go.

Dirk Nowitzki elevated over defender Richard Jefferson and a late double-team from Vince Carter and drained a turnaround jumper to surpass Ro Blackman for his 16,644th career points.

Would you care to take a guess at how Dirk verbally reacted to the feat? (Hint: Humbly.)

“There have been so many great players along the way,” Nowitzki said. “Ro Blackman is a friend of mine and he coached the German national team one year so I’m really, really close to him. I hate to break his record and take it from him, but it’s definitely a great honor for me.”

That’s Our Dirk: He “hates to take Ro’s record away from him.’’

Never change, Dirk. Seriously.

2 “We don’t want to keep sucking on that pacifier.’’

That was Cliché’vry Johnson’s message to his team, and to the media about his team. Two quickie reactions: a) I’m not even sure what the hell that even means. But, b) if it is meant to imply – or is inferred by his players – that they are babies, infants, toddlers, complainers, whatever. … well, it is ill-advised.

Dallas won. So I’ll leave this situation alone right now. But be aware, and trust me when I tell you this: It is indeed a developing situation.

3 Hello, Devin!

New Nets point guard Devin Harris made his post-Kidd return to Dallas and was matched up against Kidd. Advantage Jason, as Devin scored just nine points on 3-of-12 shooting while J-Kidd did his usual thing: only three points, but 13 assists and five rebounds.

Devin, as always, spoke with the media in a classy way. He took a glass-is-half-full approach to the swap: “I mean, I got traded for Jason Kidd. That's a lot. Gave up on me? I don't know. I don't think so.’’ He said he doesn’t “pay attention’’ to any talk that he was made a scapegoat in Dallas. He said he “misses winning.’’ And he complimented Kidd’s style of play.

Any digs? Not really. But some analysis:

Harris believe the trade negatively affected Mavs chemistry in the Mavericks locker room. He enjoys the fact that Nets coach Lawrence Frank gives him “more leash.’’ He said he likes NJ’s offensive system.

“There is more latitude, more freedom," Harris said. “We run less isolation, and more motion stuff with the two guys we have in Vince and RJ. We try to get up and down and run the Princeton offense as opposed to a lot of the screen-and-rolls that they do here.’’

Meanwhile, Diop and Hassell and Ager were also back. And nobody seemed to notice much.

4 If it works, is it a “good move’’? Believe that and you can support the latest zigs and zags in Avery’s rotation.

He started Jerry Stackhouse. Stack scored 20, so. … OK. Did he do so because Stack’s size might help against Nets wings Jefferson and Carter? Nope. Avery suggested he might stick with Stack – who had started just two games, and that was four months ago -- as the starting 2. Odd.

He benched Jason Terry – or maybe buried would be a better word. Jet has not been shooting the ball especially well (coming in, 39-of-99 from the floor and 10-of-30 from the arc). Reason enough to make him the sixth man.

However, here, he was the eighth man. He played just 17 minutes and scored just five points.

Avery played 11 guys in the first quarter(!), allowed Antoine Wright substantial burn (the Texas A&M product was good for seven points and four boards in 19 minutes), and used his 19^th different starting lineup of the season.

But it all worked. So it’s all good. Right?

PS: The Nets offered their own roster silliness, with “No. 22, Keith Van Horn’’ included in the game program.

5 More on Jet – or rather, on Avery. Quote from the coach:

“We've had some issues with starting both of our point guards together, especially with Kidd at the 2-guard spot.’’

Now, they have had some issues. In addition to Jet’s erratic shooting, he’s been terrible on defense, and Kidd hasn’t handled the waterbugs (excepting Devin), and there have been some growing pains for Kidd as a system defender.

But. …

When Terry and Kidd have been in games together, Kidd’s been a “2-guard’’? He has?

Dear God, please let that be a verbal miscue. Please don’t tell me that Avery’s “re-wiring’’ of his Hall-of-Fame point guard includes him asking Kidd to play a different position. 

6 It appears to me that The UberMan made one change during his one-game suspension: Didn’t it look like he’d gotten a haircut? (Sorry. I forgot to ask him.)

But everything else was pretty much the same: In the last 11 games, Nowitzki is averaging 31 points and shooting 50 percent.

7 Injury update: Devean George – who had been doing a solid defensive job surviving Vince Carter – experienced some tightness in his back. Thus the playing time for Wright.

Meanwhile, there are reports that Tyronn Lue has a hammy that is preventing him from playing. But that’s not the way I hear it. My understanding is that Lue and another newcomer who could help, Jamal Magliore, remain under Avery’s “work-in-progress’’ thumb. (In fairness, Malik Allen was the backup big and pulled down nine boards.)

And yes, there are folks within the Mavs organization who are scratching their heads over this.

Memo to Avery: There are only 19 games left. The schedule allows for no more than maybe three or four full-blown, full-steam practices.

The time is NOW.

8 One guy who seems to be peaking – or rather, re-peaking – just in time: Brandon Bass. He clearly has earned the trust of his coach, his mid-range jumper ranks as arguably the team’s best, and (Football Term Alert) his motor keeps running. “The Animal’’ offered a career-high 19 points on 8-of-13 shooting with seven rebounds.

9 Props to Dallas’ defense, which had been giving out 100-point games like Dick Vitale dishes out superlatives. The Mavs gave up just 34 points in the first half

10 And one more Cliché’vry Johnson quote, this one from his Friday appearance on Randy Galloway’s ESPN 103.3 radio show:

“I always try to keep myself in the forefront of things if the games aren't going well. I've never been one to run and and hide. ... But we need to get something from the players ... more energy, leadership, fire ... we are still waiting to get it on a consistent basis.’’

Trite? Yes, as always. Hypocritical? Yes. When a person says “I don’t run and hide’’ then follows it with a “but’’ and a finger-point, that’s hypocritical. And when he continues to plead publically for more “energy, leadership and fire’’ from a team that just got done hiring one of the greatest energetic and fiery leaders in the history of the sport, well. …

He’s strutting back over into “pacifier’’ territory.

Be careful, Coach.  

11 Josh Howard, possibly upset now because of some other reason, took four shots.

12 I’m going to run this by you again: Dallas is 40-23. The Mavs are 4.5 games out of first, but also a half-game out of eighth. And in terms of a nightly soap opera, unfolding gradually and impossible to turn away from, in terms of spills, chills and thrills, isn’t this kinda fun?

 1240pm march 9 2008