Missed Manners: Hornets 102, Mavs 92

    We are told that “old-school’’ coach Byron Scott is not a fan of “demonstrative histrionics’’ (but only if they are performed by the other team, apparently). He is probably therefore quite disturbed by how the “demonstrative’’ Mavs “histrionicked’’ their way off the floor Sunday after a 102-92 loss to his Hornets.

   There were no prayer circles. No Devean George seeking out Penny Marshall for a hug. No J-Ho/CP3 Wake Forest bonding. No handshakes, no waves, no Miss Manners bullshit.

   The Mavs were behind by 10. There were five seconds left on the clock. Jason Kidd dribbled the ball into the forecourt and. … left it there, the ball bouncing harmlessly before being deadened by gravity. Meanwhile, Kidd led the Mavs’ march to the locker room, to the plane, home to Dallas, and maybe – with just the right amount of impoliteness – to some playoff success.

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     STANDINGS STUFF: Want a rosy note to start? 

    This is a home-game league. Dallas is in seventh in the standings, possesses a full-game lead over No. 8 Utah, and among the three teams stacked up at 6, 7 and 8, faces the most advantageous final days of the regular season.
   New Orleans is in sixth. The Hornets have 49 wins. Their final two games are both on the road against teams above them in the standings, including a Monday nighter in Houston, a fairly demanding end to a b-2-b.

    Dallas is in seventh. The Mavs have 48 wins. Their final two games are both at home, Monday against Minny and Wednesday against Houston.
   Utah is in eighth. The Jazz have 47 wins. Their final two games are at home (against LAC) and on the road against the Lakers.
    If the schedule plays out the bookmakers’ way, the Hornets lose their final two to finish with 49 wins. The Jazz split and finish with 48. And the Mavs win their final two to finish with 50 wins – and the No. 6 spot.

   That’s not my prediction; that’s just what the oddmakers will predict. Anything else will be the result of a handful of upsets – certainly conceivable.

    So No. 8 remains an unappetizing possibility. No. 6 remains a very real possibility (though NO can stay there by winning one of its final two).

     And No. 7 seems a likelihood.
    THE UNSOLVABLE CP3: At this point, the Mavs don’t even pretend to have an answer for The Boy In The Blowup Boxscore.

    Over the course of two games in 44 hours, Chris Paul took Dallas apart with a total line of 73 points, 24 assists and 18 rebounds.

   My son Nate watches the game with me and he says, “I wish I could hate him. He seems like a nice guy. And it’s an incredible player. So I can’t hate him.’’

    DIRK’S COUNTERPUNCH: Nowitzki was also a killer, with 29 points, three assists and 14 rebounds. The points mean he has scored 20 or more in 23 straight games, the NBA’s sweetest active streak. He also found a way to survive – or even rest -- as a defender: if NO is going to keep trudging this Marks and this Ely and those sort of characters out there, Dirk’s always going to have somebody he can guard.

    Of course, we’re done with New Orleans, so the “rest’’ issue applies in another way.

    Dirk did lodge 42 minutes. But he was given a “rest’’ on defense.

    The UberMan having a little something left in the tank will help on Monday.

   CARLISLE’S ‘DESTINY’: When coach Rick Carlisle said the other day that the Mavs “control their own destiny,’’ we had a little fun with it. But it’s true – still – kind of.

    The destiny within the Mavs’ total control is the avoidance of the Dead Man Walking position. Win two at home to close the year and you have a 50-32 record (‘9X50’!) and you have somebody to open with besides the Lakers.

    By doing that, you also fulfill the words of Carlisle and his Mavs who have talked of “peaking.’’ The Mavs would end the year with a 7-2 record – an exact flip-flop of the 2-7 record with which they started the Carlisle Era.

    HORNETS HISTRIONICS: So Byron Scott was upset because Friday’s Mavs win over his Hornets featured Jet acting like a jet and featured muscular Brandon Bass showing his muscles.

    "Rubbing it in" and "showing off,’’ he charged.

    Waaa.

    Scott said he was “old-school’’ and didn’t abide by such behavior. (I’m told he also demanded that Rick Carlisle “wipe that Jim Carrey smirk off his face’’ until someone explained to poor, dopey Byron that Carlisle was born like that.)

    As I noted in advance and on the ESPN 103.3 Radio pregame show, it was weird to hear a representative of THAT organization lecturing others on class. I mean, the Hornets? The guys who endorse David West slapping Dirk’s cheek and allow James Posey to scream the word “pussy’’ at opponents and who shuffled their franchise out of Charlotte and whose owner has a bit of a sexual-harassment bugaboo?

    Boy Scout lectures from them?

    And then this game starts and whaddya know: Chris Paul makes a layup and flexes his muscles. James Posey fouls Dirk, draws a whistle, and then fouls him again to earn a T.

    That’s gonna be handled in New Orleans, though. Because I’m sure after the game “old-school’’ taskmaster Byron Scott ordered CP3 and James Pssy to be punished for his “demonstrative histrionics’’ by running wind sprints or washing their mouths out with Skip Bayless Liquid Soap or something.

    MORE FROM THE JASONS: The game was tied at 83-all after Jason Kidd's 3-pointer with 4:11 to go. It would’ve been a grand time for both Backcourt Jasons, Kidd and Terry, to assert themselves.

     But neither of them could contend with Paul on one end. And on the other end, both of them were able to get open shots – even while driving to the hole – but had a terrible time finishing.

    Terry had 13 points. Kidd had eight.

    But the Jasons shot a combined 8-of-27. And along with their interior misses, they shot 5-of-15 from the arc, the hub of Dallas’ 6-of-22 effort from there.

    Not good enough. Especially when the other team’s star guard is getting and making layups, that’s simply not good enough.

    MISSED OPPORTUNITIES UNDER GLASS: The success Dallas had here was largely the result of its rebounding work. The failure was largely the result of not taking advantage of that edge.

    Erick Dampier’s surprising ability to guard David West (something Carlisle went away from late – and maybe shouldn’t have) allowed Damp to stay on the floor for 27 minutes. With that sort of burn, Damp is going to be a man on the boards. And he was, with 12 rebounds.

     But the Mavs started the first quarter by making just 5-of-23 shots. And to start the second half, when NO – while leading 45-44 -- missed its first eight shots and was allowed no offensive rebounds, the Mavs were unable to pour it on then, too.

    I had the Mavs down for an amazing 11 offensive rebounds in the first half alone – Paul called it “pathetic, just pathetic’’ – and yet the Mavs were down on the scoreboard.

    The Mavs finished with a 41-36 rebounding advantage. But it could’ve (should’ve?) been even more grand. And it could’ve (should’ve) translated better in the final result.

     THREE ENERGETIC ODDITIES: You don’t see these too often:

    *Dirk with a steal in the open court, a poke-ahead that allows him to go coast-to-coast for the dunk.

     *Damp gracefully bounding across the endline for a loose ball and then cleverly flipping it back in bounds to a teammate.

    *Damp again, on the perimeter, jab-stepping his way to a drive past his defender and to the rim.

    Seriously, the pep in the step of 7-foot guys like Dirk and Damp is a very promising sign as the postseason approaches. The over-30/over7-foot guys seem ready.

      THE LOST POINT: It matters not on the scoreboard, of course. But when Nowitzki made his two free throws before intermission, the Mavs had pulled the thing into a 54-all tie.

    Not bad.

    But then they came back onto the floor to learn that they were actually behind 45-44 at halftime.

    Wtf?
  Officials reviewed what was initially ruled a 3 by Kidd late in the second quarter. The basket was changed to a two-point field goal. It appeared to be the right call (Kidd is the NBA’s all-time leader in two-point FGs with his toe on the arc) but – and I’m just spit-ballin’ here – I wonder what that does to a team’s psyche?

     BRASS BALLS: For the bulk of the fourth quarter of a tight game, Carlisle went with a lineup of Dirk, Kidd, Jet, Bass and JJB.

    That doesn’t just mean he went with Bass over Damp (justifiable) and it doesn’t just mean Antoine Wright grabbed a clipboard.

   It meant Josh Howard was kept in the cooler. From 10:45 (when he left in favor of Kidd) to 2:42 (when he re-entered for JJB). Eight minutes of pine.

  Josh finished with 15 points. That’s the same total he had in the first quarter Friday. Maybe this just wasn’t J-Ho’s day or maybe the ankle was nagging him a bit.

   DB.com will be doing the “Josh Watch’’ for the next 24 hours or so: If he needs to get a break, can he take it against Minny? Or should be rub some dirt on it and get ready to give what he’s got to give?

    FISH QUICKIES: Assorted sweet nothings:

   *Did NO really make 20 of their final 25 shots?

   *Should James Singleton have been given a crack at David West?

   *Didn’t teal and pinstripes go out of fashion 20 years ago? Or were pinstripes on basketball uni’s ever in fashion?

    *It’s a little nutty to even write this, but here goes: JJB can beat Chris Paul off the dribble.

    *My man Tim Cowlishaw is writing that the Mavs MUST re-up Jason Kidd to win next year. Maybe. … but doesn’t that depend on what player they might replace him with if he departs?

   *I thought Jet showed a little impatience in the fourth when, rather than locating Dirk one more time in their two-man game, he “settled’’ for calling his own number and shooting a bomb.

    *CP3 doesn’t just “step through’’ double-teams to pass, as is customary – he dribbles through double-teams.

    *This game wasn’t a sellout? Only 16,000 Hornets fans who couldn’t go to church and then attend a playoffesque game that tipped off at noon? Shame.

    *NO owner George Shinn addressed the people who did show up on Hornets’ final home game and apparently didn’t sexually-harass anybody. And Byron Scott was pretty appreciative of that.

    *Scroll down for a Erick Dampier photo that could've turned out much worse.

  ‘THE ANIMAL’: ORIGINS: Brandon Bass, the LSU product and scrapheap Hornet whose embryonic career is being made in Dallas, was once again used as the go-to big man, playing center (despite being just 6-8) and asserting himself as an interior force.

   Bass finished with 13 points on 6-of-9 shooting for the Mavericks and he guarded David West down the stretch. The All-star West won the battle (31 points, a pretty good Robin) but Bass competed well enough that Mike Tirico of the ABC crew raved about him – even noting that “Jason Kidd has started referring to Bass as ‘an animal.’’’

    Well, fellas, you are close.

    Actually, Bass has been called “The Animal’’ in Dallas since his first training camp here. (Hornets247 knows this; credit to them for the photo). And the guy who named him that?

    That would be Avery Johnson, who just happens to be Mike Tirico’s ABC colleague.

     How could they not know that? How could The Lil’ Johnson not have passed that along?

    I guess maybe Avery communicates with his new team as poorly as he communicated with his old team?   

  JON BARRY IS AN IDIOT, STILL: Here’s ABC studio dude Jon Barry, complimenting the Mavs on being underrated: “(Dallas) is a forgotten team.’’

   Hey, doofus, has it occurred to you that maybe one of the reasons Dallas is a forgotten team – if that is true and if anyone cares – is because every time you work one of their games you exhaust yourself criticizing them?

    This year, Barry has gone so far as to insist that if perennial MVP-caliber performer Nowitzki isn’t hitting jumpers, he's nothing.

     That’s the problem with Dirk,’’ Barry said during a Mavs-Celtics telecast on ABC. “If he’s not scoring, Dirk doesn’t help ya.’’

    So now, ABC’s Barry essentially says that Dallas – at that point involved in a tie game -- doesn’t get the attention it deserves.

    He says this seconds after ABC sideline girl Lisa “I Don’t Tweet Anymore’’ Salters conducts an interview with. … Chris Paul. 

   He says this seconds before ABC producers roll a pre-packaged “Fave Five’’ interview with … Chris Paul.

    He says this minutes before ABC’s Tirico introduces the halftime visit, Magic Johnson with. … Chris Paul.

    You’re right, Jon Barry. The mainstream media maybe doesn’t give the Mavs enough attention.

   Wonder who should be blamed for that?

  AND THEN THERE’S HUBIE: Poor old Hubie Brown is a legend. But not for his work as an analyst.

   As he always does when he works a Dallas game, he about has a canniption fit (that’s a fit old people have) over the absence of Jerry Stackhouse, who he continues to believe is “20 missing points.’’ Sunday he added Devean George to the list of the “missing’’ Mavs who could really be making a difference.

   Nevermind that if Stack and Devean were playing, Wright and Bass might not be – and wouldn’t Dallas be the worst for that?

   Hubie also has a favorite semi-meaningless Hornet: It’s Aussie big man Sean Marks. According to Brown, Marks has “terrific’’ value because “the crowd loves him and the team loves him.’’

   As he was saying that, the Marks-led NO second unit was being trashed by the Mavs bench.

   But whatever. Hubie is a legend.

  JJT CHECKS IN, SO MAVS NO LONGER ‘IRRELEVANT’: The DMNews columnist is now telling us to “enjoy the ride’’ after just a few columns ago telling us that none if this is worth our time because the Mavs are “irrelevant.’’

    I’m so confused! Can’t wait for JJT to write another column so I can fully understand whether or not I should continue to follow the Mavs.

   FISH ON TV TONIGHT: I’ll try my hand (my face, actually) on TV tonight. “The 33’’ does its Sunday night “Inside Sports’’ show and I’m a part of it.

    I think I’ll shave.

    HORNETS’ HISTRIONICS PART II: So the “classless’’ Mavs were "rubbing it in" and "showing off"?

   Let’s take one more stab at this.

  With a few seconds remaining and the Hornets in possession and up eight, all of America knew what was supposed to happen. Advance the ball to the forecourt and dribble the clock out. It’s standard-operating procedure. Respectful of the opponent, if one cares about such things.

    Which “old-school’’ Byron Scott does, correct?

    But no. New Orleans advanced the ball by execution an uncontested length-of-court pass, and receiver Butler excecuted a fantastically stupid uncontested dunk.

    “There’s no reason to do that,’’ chided Tirico.

     The Hornets made their final statement by gobbling up when they know is a meaningful basket.

     The Mavs made their final statement by starting what they hope is a meaningful march.

 

 

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