Mavs 99, Knicks 94: Another Test (Pattern)

   Thursday was a night when the sports world demanded you not watch the NBA. ESPN steered you to “Animal House II: When Pacman Attacks’’ as his tormentors re-ask the immortal line, “Do you mind if we dance wiff yo dates?’’ The BCS lured you toward watching a “national championship’’ revealing that Utah is apparently not part of our nation. And the NBA? It tanked the night by scheduling just two games, including the ostensible test pattern that would be Knicks-at-Mavs.

   Me? I like watching test patterns.

   Your All-Access Pass to Mavs 99, Knicks 94:

   If they did it for 48.

  New York led 73-66 with 4:59 to go in the third quarter. That’s when Dallas shifted into another gear, speeding to a 14-5 run to take an 80-78 lead into the final period. The Mavs and NY spend part of the fourth bobbing about, and then came the final seconds.

    It was eerily reminiscent of Tuesday’s win over the Clippers, when the Mavs just hung around for most of the night but then closed the win with an 11-1 run. Here, play after play unfolded exactly as the Mavs wished.

    *Dirk hit both free throws with 40 seconds left to put Dallas up 97-94.

    *Al Harrington got to the hole but had his layup blocked by Brandon Bass (more on the blocks below) at :29.

    *Dirk passed out of a double-team to locate Jason Terry for an unguarded and game-sealing jumper at :09.

    In total, the Mavs outscored NY 45-35 in the second half. Part of that was Dallas’ defense limiting the Knicks to six made shots in the fourth (on 24 tries, for 25 percent). And in the final 138 seconds, the Mavs’ defense contributed to NY missing all six of its shots.

    KIDD ON THE DRIVE-BUT-DON’T-DISH: I appreciate the brilliance of Jason Kidd. I do. But as he goes Grizzlies/Sixers/Clippers  and scores five, one and three points, respectively, on 3-of-16 shooting, the fact is unavoidable: the Mavs simply must invent a way for J-Kidd to become guardable-worthy.

   “You have to erase your floppy disc and become a shooter,” said Kidd of the openings the Knicks gave him. “I had some great looks that didn’t go in, but guys kept telling me to keep shooting.”

   At halftime, as the Mavs trailed 59-54, Kidd was tied for the team lead in scoring with eight and had missed two layups.  Jason is an awkward finisher; he’ll end up being the only Hall-of-Famer ever whose layups were knuckleballs. And while he’s has his moments from the arc (not to mention on the arc), he’s not going to re-invent himself as a pure shooter. The solution? Kidd on the drive-and-dish needs to occasionally skip the dish. Keep the ball. Put it on the rim. Be a threat and put the ball in play.

And then hope that somebody like Brandon Bass trails your drive and readies for the putback.

Kidd can average 15 assists a game, but if he’s only going to average 3.0 ppg along with it,Dallas is going to be too one-dimensional to beat the contenders.

   So. …

   Jason Kidd scored in double figures. He had 16 points on 6-of-15 shooting, and 4-of-10 from the arc. With all the things Dirk was unable to do, Kidd needed to pick it up. And he did – but something more than two shots made from inside the arc, maybe even a made layup or two, would come in awful handy.

   “Re-wire’’ Kidd? No, that was last year.

    “Let him “erase his own floppy disc.’’ That’s this year’s technological analogy of choice.

   THE BIGGEST LOSERS: It was nice of the Knicks to treat their visit to Dallas as Eddy Curry’s audition tape for “NBC’s The Biggest Losers.’’ He was a -9 in his two-and-a-half minutes of first-half burn. I didn’t pay attention to whatever he did in the second half. Turns out he didn’t play. Made no difference to me, though, because I was looking away, for fear Eddy might puke on me.

  JUDGING JOSH: The Josh Howard Watch – whether you are Watching for J-Ho to be utilized before the trade deadline or whether you are Watching for J-Ho to once again be J-Ho – drips on and on and on, like some sort of water torture. (You’ll note I didn’t call it the “Chinese Water Torture’’; I hear the ACLU is kinda on my ass.)

   Here’s the positive J-Ho news: He opened the second half like the old J-Ho, the new J-Ho, the real J-Ho. Hustle, savvy, unselfishness, shot in rhythm, his total of 19 points making sense, if you know what I mean. He was 8-of-15, partly due to him cutting to the basket, and he had four rebounds and three assists and three steals and seemed. … engaged.

   DIRK FRIES FEW FISH: It is not unreasonable at, say, the 4:00 mark of the third, with the Mavs down 75-68, to note that Dirk Nowitzki had four points. And that if he’d had, oh, 12 points – probably fewer than he averages over the course of the first 30 minutes of games – Dallas would’ve been ahead.

   With six minutes remaining, the Mavs were down 86-85. Reason to panic? Not if it could be assumed that The UberMan – up to eight points by that point – was doing the ticking-time-bomb thing.

   But alas, Nowitzki (who’d said coming in that his team had work to do, or “Fish to fry,’’ as he put it) never got untracked. New York was unusually focused on double-teaming him, so he took only seven shots through three periods. And late, when he finally started firing away, he simply wasn’t in synch, finishing just 3-of-13.

   Mavs coach Rick Carlisle said Dirk was playing with a 101 temperature. Nowitzki downplayed that.

   “When it was winning time, I didn’t have a great rhythm shooting the ball,” Nowitzki said. “I was able to get some assists when they double-teamed me.”

   Good strategy by D’Antoni? So it would seem, but read on. …

   PISSIN’ LIGHTNING, CRAPPIN’ THUNDER: Boy, when Jason Terry hit a transition 3 at 2:05 of the  third to pull his Mavs to within 78-75, NY coach Mike D’Antoni got himself a timeout and spent it pissin’ lightning and crappin’ thunder. His Knicks’ failure to pick up Jet on the break – their failure to recognize that such a shot at such a time in such a way has become Terry’s calling card – is understandably infuriating.

   Except. …

   Isn’t that what Seven Seconds Or Less gets you? The ability to quick-pace your way to 78 points after three quarters (as the Knicks had) despite inferior talent. … while also allowing 80 points in three quarters (which Dallas achieved) to a superior foe that also has a knack for scoring in transition?

   In other words, D’Antoni’s ire is kind of like a parent being upset that his child has been in a car accident after having instructed that child to go play in the street.

    I’ll tell you when NY could’ve really used some focus from the coach.

    1 Dirk pulls down a defensive rebound with :40 remaining and Dallas up by one point. So the Mavs are going to get a possession and then the Knicks are going to get a possession. Except David Lee decides to tackle Nowitzki, Dallas is in the bonus and Dirk get the chance to score the two from the line – where he’d likely be far more accurate than he was from the floor.

   2 With 11 seconds remaining and the Mavs up three, Dirk has the ball at the arc. The Knicks decide to run two defenders at him. Now, they’ve done that all night, and it’s worked. But Dirk has missed all six of his fourth-quarter attempts and isn’t even squared up to shoot. So here come the defenders and there goes the ball, zipping from Dirk’s hands into the hands of Terry, who is completely uncontested and nails a baseline jumper for the final margin. Dirk records his seventh assist.

   I’m assuming D’Antoni will spent the rest of the night yelling at himself?

   SSOL VS. BLOCK PARTY: The scoring total doesn’t show it (Seven Seconds Or Less and all that), but the Mavs did bring a level of defensive intensity here. With just three minutes gone in the fourth period, I’d counted eight blocked shots. Everyone from the expected (James Singleton, a sort of Knick repellant who made three baskets and pulled down eight boards in 15 minutes) to the unexpected (little Jason Terry, getting in dudes’ faces) challenged Knicks shooters who ventured inside the arc.

   For the game, the Mavs totaled nine blocks in my book. (Eight officially, which is wrong, but whatev.)

   I think the challenging of shots caused NY trickle-down breakdowns. The Knicks managed only two assists in the fourth quarter. And I think it’s notable that Dallas – which had allowed 100 points in three of its last four games – kept a lid in that regard on a Knicks team that is designed to score 100.

   THEY WEREN’T SAYING ‘STOOOOOPS!: No, late in the first quarter, the Beloveds trailed by 11 points and the AAC was littered with boos. Discerning customers!

   QUOTE OF THE NIGHT: “He’s the best clutch shooter in this league.’’ -- Nowitzki on Terry.

   IF THE TOP GUNS AREN’T FIRING: Nowitzki ends with 10 and Terry ends with 10 and that’s 27 fewer than the 47 or so they usually combine for. Not an issue, I guess, if the offense is going to get a boost from Antoine Wright (13 points on 6-of-8 shooting) as a starter. And Brandon Bass (11 rebounds and 12 points, even with that baseline jumper not as reliable as usual) as a finisher. Oh, and throw Singleton in there, too. He served as the backup center while DeSagana Diop served as a seat filler.

 KIDD WILL CONSIDER KNICKS!!!: I’ll handle this with our usual even-handedness – even as the NY papers are about to orgasm over it. It’s true! Kidd said in the morning shootaround that he Will Consider Playing For The Knicks Someday!

    From the venerable New York Times:

   Mavericks point guard Jason Kidd said he would entertain joining the Knicks once his contract expired at the end of the season. “Yeah, why not?” Kidd told reporters at the Mavericks’ morning shootaround.

   “Yeah, why not?’’

   Stop the presses.

   OPPOSITE DIRECTIONS: Back on November 16, 2008, Dallas visited New York and won, 124-114 in overtime. Since that result, Dallas has won 19 of 25 games while New York has lost 17 of 24. Maybe this will serve as another launching pad for the 22-13 Mavs as their schedule toughens up a bit. And for the Knicks?

    Hey, there’s always 2010.

     ONE MORE THING: So, how’d that football game turn out?

1255am jan 9 2009