Mavs 115, Jazz 108: Sunday Morning Donuts

   Dirk makes himself feel young. Mike Fisher’s Little Black Book of NFL General Managing as applied to Josh Howard (and for that matter, to Shawn Marion). A fake-incendiary headline. And a Dixie cup of water for a man in a desert in the form of the Mavs’ 115-108 home win Saturday over the Jazz.

   Your Sunday Morning Donuts. …

 

   DONUT 1: The conventional coverage of Dirk Nowitzki here will focus on his 39 points, on the unstoppable way he attacked a Utah team that often gives him physical challenges, on how his toughness caused him to shake off a hyperextended elbow and late-game ankle injury and to return to see this thing through. And maybe how The UberMan – who was 16-of-20 and 4-of-5 in the fourth -- would’ve easily eclipsed the 40-point mark has he not hobbled off for a few minutes near game’s end.

    My angle? I choose to peer between the lines of the milestone to which the 39 points carried him  Nowitzki is now 55th on the NBA's all-time scoring list with 18,002 points.

    “It's nice, I guess, but it's still so early in my career," Nowitzki said. “Hopefully, there are a lot more points to come. Milestones are great once your career is over. You tell your grandkids, 'This is what I've done.' But once you're still rolling, you're still young, you don't really look at it that way.’’

   “Early in his career’’? “Still rolling’’? “Still young’’?

    That’s our UberMan! Keep rolling, 30-year-old kid.

   DONUT 2: Dallas broke a four-game losing streak in large part on the strength of the one-two punch, Dirk and Jason Terry, combining for 61 points. But for a chance, the Mavs also got top-notch efforts from a variety of supporting-cast members.

   “Collective toughness,’’ coach Rick Carlisle called it, but I think that’s too specific. In terms of performance recently, the Mavs haven’t done anything “collectively’’ in the sense of having multiple players performing well at the same time.

     Against Utah, they got that. Brandon “The Animal’’ Bass had a season-high 17 points off the bench and survived being sucked into playing some perimeter defense. Antoine Wright scored 11 and Jason Kidd – of late mostly taking nine shots and making one of them – upped that to taking 10 shots and making three of them. Seriously, Kidd’s 11 points (all three of his makes were on four 3-point tries) were a big help. He also recorded seven rebounds, four steals and a block. There were several dazzlingly clever defensive plays in the clutch.

   "Make or miss, we attacked the basket and got some second and third opportunities," Kidd said. "That's something we have to continue to keep doing."

   Jason’s right. He’s especially right if he changes that “we’’ in that sentence to “I.’’ As in, “I, Jason Kidd, have to continue to attack the basket.’’

   DONUT 3: Now, I’m just a broken-down ol’ football writer. But years ago, I composed on radio a (theoretical) Mike Fisher’s Little Black Book Of NFL General Managing.’’ It was fairly football-specific, but it merits reference here as the Mavs continue to wait on the injured Josh Howard.

    The applicable rule (Chapter 22, Section 9, Page 212, I believe) goes something like, “Coach the players on the field. The players who aren’t on the field, let the trainer coach them.’’

    The rule is supplemented by something traveling salesman Jason Garrett has said to me frequently about his focus on the task at hand.

    “I only concern myself with things that are within my control,’’ Garrett will repeat by rote.

    And then there’s a conversation I had this week with Nate Newton. Now, Nate is a basketball fan and a Mavs follower. And it’s said he could, once upon a time, dunk a basketball. But obviously, the former Cowboys offensive lineman is most closely associated to football. And for a magazine piece I’m writing on the Cowboys, I asked Nate to comment on the issues at Valley Ranch.

    “Everybody out there spent the whole season worrying about who was going to sign, who was going to get unsuspended, who was in the mood to play, who had an injured toe or an injured thumb,’’ Newton told me. “That was the whole focus of the Cowboys season: Individual concerns about individuals. The Pacman story became the biggest story of the year, and for most of the year, he wasn’t even on the team! It’s football. If only 11 guys show up to practice, the other 40 guys get crossed off, crossed off your mind. And crossed off your gameplan. And you prepare to play with the 11 who show up. This team never did that.’’

    Again, Newton’s “this team’’ wasn’t the Mavs. And he wasn’t talking at all about Josh Howard. Or about Matt Carroll. Or about anybody Dallas might acquire ina trade, Shawn Marion or anybody else.

   But doesn’t the same logic apply? Doesn’t the same danger exist?

   Mavs GM Donnie Nelson talks about how needed J-Ho is. He talks about it a lot. Carlisle talks about it. Dirk talks about it.

   "We need Josh,'' they all say.

    It’s all a lovely sentiment. And it’s true. But Josh has missed four consecutive games and 16 overall and his wrist offers no guarantees for this upcoming road trip.

   Psychologically speaking, which way is Dallas better off?

   Pining for Josh Howard?

   Or following rule Chapter 22, Section 9, Page 212 of “Mike Fisher’s Little Black Book Of General Managing’’?

   DONUT 4: This is only the second time this month, and the fifth time in 20 games, that Dallas has reached the 100-point mark. That, obviously, wasn’t the plan when Carlisle was hired to retain much of what Avery Johnson had established defensively while retooling the offense into being more Kidd-friendly and upbeat.

     It helps to keep the game close, I think, and then to allow Carlisle’s direction and the execution of veterans to close the deal. Example: Dallas was up 101-99 with 3:45 to go in the fourth quarter. That’s keeping it close. Then comes a burst of execution, and Dallas goes on a 14-5 run through the 43-second mark of the period to take a 115-104 lead. During that time, Utah failed to score a field goal.

    My point, I guess, can be turned into a “microcosm’’ (one of Carlisle’s pet words): Is Jason Kidd better than Deron Williams over the course of 48 minutes? Maybe not. But if this team can play well enough – with help from the likes or Brandon and Antoine – to avoid falling down by 28 over the course of those 48 minutes and to keep it close late, Jason Kidd can be better than Deron Williams for a critical three-minute spurt.

    A three-minute spurt that can win games.

    P.S.: I know, I know. They didn’t close against the Lakers. And they lost to SA in OT, so that’s not closing. But on an average NBA night, in a three-minute game and I’ve got Kidd, Dirk and Terry (and, in Little Black Book violation, Josh)? I like Dallas’ chances.

     DONUT 5: Utah didn’t have Carlos Boozer. Mr. Easy Basket. I know. Quit pissing on my Cheerios.

    DONUT 6: Kudos to one of the fellas over at LoneMavsFan who is willing to dig a little deeper into Matt Carroll’s crummy 3-point numbers this year. He accurately noted that Carroll – normally a 40-percent guy from the arc – might be down this season because his “sample size’’ is down.

    Carroll, not getting as much freedom or as much burn under new coach Larry Brown as he did in previous seasons, has attempted 45 treys all season. That’s a pace that’s about one-third what he’s shot in his productive seasons.
    While the Mavs are already largely a jump-shooting team and a perimeter jump-shooting team, these numbers suggest that there is room here for a Korver type or a Kapono type to get three 3 attempts per game. … and that those shots won’t be in addition to the bombs taken by, say, Antoine Wright and Devean George, but in place of them.
     Consider this: So far this season, AW has taken 46 shots from the arc. More than Carroll.

     Consider this: So far this season, Devean George has taken 55 shots from the arc. More than Carroll.

     So yes, there is room for Matt Carroll here. Room for him to be given an enlarged “sample size.’’

     DONUT 7: Just as the loss in Denver was notable because the Nuggets and Mavs are jostling for playoff position, so is it worthy of note that Utah is now 24-17, the 41-game mark, halfway through its season and in eighth place in the West. The Mavs are 23-17. That’s good for ninth, a percentage point behind Utah. Oh, and still just one game out of sixth, 2.5 games out of fourth and 3.5 games out of second. You know, for those scoring at home.

     DONUT 8: Utah coach Jerry Sloan was asked before the game about the Jazz’ physical style, the traditional Utah-vs.-Dirk wrestling matches, the Sloanesque tradition of brutish play.

   "That sideshow stuff doesn't win games," Sloan argued dismissively.

   Ah, but it does. It wins games in Utah.

    Forunately for the Mavs, it doesn’t work as well when the Jazz are on the road. Dallas’ win here is the 12^th in the last 14 tries.

    Sloan is right in saying Utah’s wrasslin’ techniques aren’t “sideshows’’ worth discussing.

    That’s because Utah’s wrasslin’ techniques aren’t the Jazz’ sideshow. They are that team’s main event.

    As Dirk summarized: "It's always that we have trouble in Salt Lake City, where they just let them get away with some stuff. But here in Dallas we don't have a problem.''

     DONUT 9: I’ve tried to hold my tongue in recent days as this media outlet and that media outlet and attempts to make a name for themselves – or maybe they're just innocently bumbling about – as so many are trying to “play’’ journalist the way kids “play doctor’’ or “play Cops & Robbers.’’

   But this time, I’m going to go ahead and point it out.

  The gang at Hoopsworld has decided to turn DeSagana Diop’s move to Charlotte into something incendiary. They do so with an interview with ‘Gana that they did not conduct, gauging his mood when they were not there, and tossing a lighted match onto a situation not at all afire.

   They do so with a headline that screams, “Diop Wanted Out Of Dallas’’ 

  That doesn’t sound like the Diop I know; The "Paris Hilton of Senegal'' I know never expressed anger -- just a desire to play. What happened? Did he go to Charlotte and rip the Mavs?

  Um, no.

  “I never got a really good chance" Diop said."It was frustrating. …’’

   Both takes are true. But how does that turn into “Diop Wanted Out Of Dallas’’?

   Is this warped angle the fault of Charlotte Observer writer Rick Bonnell?

  Um, no. Bonnell actually took time to conduct the interview that Hoopsworld relies on for its apparently incendiary angle.

   And Bonnell’s headline is: ‘Diop. … can ‘offer a presence in the lane.'’

  Now, Hoopsworld. … you think you have a better handle on what Diop meant than Bonnell does? If there was a firecracker in this interview, how is it that you somehow spotted it while veteran interviewer Bonnell – who conducted the interview and wrote the story -- failed to see it? 

    What are we doing here? Are we trying to make a name for ourselves by exaggerating the tone of stories? Or are we just innocently bumbling about, mistakes like this simply due to amateur earnestness? I wonder how surprised 'Gana would be to learn that he is being characterized as being somehow "angry'' at the Mavs.

     If Hoopsworld tracks down 'Gana and confirms that he is indeed angy and that he did indeed "want out of Dallas,'' I'll stand corrected. In the meantime, this sort of report is a disservice to the player specifically and to sports journalism in general.

     DONUT 10: Can Ryan Hollins make the same contributions as a backup center that ‘Gana Diop was making? (Meaning, “nothing’’?) If so, isn’t Matt Carroll essentially a throw-in who might throw in 40 percent of his 3’s?

    Doesn’t this trade – something short of headline-grabbing, to be sure – represent a zero-risk something-for-nothing deal?

    We find out more on Monday at noon in Philly. Hollins is already with the team (he was in civvies last night) and Carroll is waiting for the team in Philadelphia where, coincidentally, he has an offseason home.

    I’m not saying the acquisition of Carroll and Hollins should trigger a run at the season-ticket window. But it shouldn’t be any reason to tear your Mavs pocket schedule into a million little pieces, either.

   DONUT 11: It is still the intent of Mavericks owner Mark Cuban to match the $25,000 he was fined by the NBA for his “improper interaction’’ with Denver's J.R. Smith by giving $25,000 more to charity of Smith's choice. Maybe the Nuggets and Smith don’t understand the way Cuban works; he’s serious.

   But Cuban also possesses a sense of irony. His interaction with Smith was due to an elbow J.R. threw that Cuban says could’ve triggered an injurious brawl. So if Mark doesn’t soon get a response from Denver, he’ll donate the matching $25,000 to the NHL's retired players fund in the names of Todd Bertuzzi and Steve Moore. Bertuzzi assaulted Moore in 2004 when Moore played in Denver with the NHL Avalanche.

     DONUT 12: a programming reminder: I’ll be on ESPN Radio’s Mavs-at-Sixers pregame show (103.3 FM) Monday at 10:25. That’s A.M. The Sixers have won seven in a row and we’ll deal with it in the A.M. “Fish For Breakfast!’’ Delicious!

 

1000am jan 18 2009

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