Desperate And Wounded: Mavs 98, Spurs 81

   Our friends at Hardwood Paroxysm previewed Tuesday’s Mavs-at-Spurs scrap by writing, What we have here is a classic "Desperate Man Vs. Wounded Animal" game.

   Which was true. But what no one could’ve known is that in Dallas’ 98-81 blowout win in San Antonio, both the “Desperate Man’’ and the “Wounded Animal’’ would both be playing for the same team.

   The Desperate Man? That would be Dirk Nowitzki, who rebounded from one of his worst games ever (the 3-of-11-for-eight-points turd against Cleveland; seriously, I thought maybe Dirk was still dressed in his Wang ZhiZhi costume for Halloween that night) with the sort of effort that haunts Gregg Popovich’s dreams.      

   The UberMan was assertive early. He was nails on his unguardable mid-range jumper. He abused Matt Bonner like he’s a red-headed stepchild (no insensitive cliché here; Bonner’s media-guide profile does indeed indicate that his natural hair color is “auburn’’ and that he was left on a church doorstep as a preschooler.) For those who think of Dirk as a 7-foot soft-serve cone, his grapple with Fabio Oberto was notable. Fabio pushed and shoved and clawed and grabbed, and when Nowitzki’s responded with an angular elbow to that hovered near Fabio’s gorgeous face, Fabio thrust himself backwards like he’d been shot from a cartoon cannon.

   During a little scuffle, Fabio tried to protect. Dirk bellowed back angrily, “You know what you’re trying to do! You know what you’re trying to do!

    German-to-English translation: The only way you can stop me is to flop me, Sally.

    Nowitzki led all scorers with 30 points, on 13-of-24 shooting. He’s reached the 30-plus mark in two of four games for the 2-2 Mavs, so maybe there never was a reason to get jittery. But in Monday’s embarrassing home loss to Cleveland, Dirk seemed more than “out of sync’’; he seemed tired, lethargic, disinterested, even.

   We’ve wondered: Is coach Rick Carlisle’s arduous run-run-run training camp now resulting in some early-season rubber-leggedness? Nowitzki does his Jack Palance pushups and his rowing exercises and his one-legged jumping jacks and his upside-down saxophoning and whatnot, and he did it all in addition to Carlisle’s Mary Decker Slaney demands.

    Too much?

     Nah. This was the second night of a B-2-B, and there was Nowitzki, energizing Dallas through spurts to end each half.

     With about three minutes to go before intermission, Dallas was up 41-31. The Mavs heated up, hitting five of their final six shots in the half – and Dirk had three of those.

     Then, with 7:29 left in the game, and SA having cut what had been a 23-point deficit to 80-73, Dirk took over again. Notably, Carlisle didn’t dick around with his backups trying to hold a lead through the fourth; KIDDIRK was asked to carry an extra load. How did Nowitzki respond? Dirk scored six straight points to stick a fork in ‘em.

    And the Wounded Animal? That would be Jason Terry.

     Before the Cleveland game, I asked him about Carlisle’s shuffling of the starting lineup.

      “I’ll tell you which lineup I like,’’ Jet said. “I like the winning lineup.’’

      And that’s valiant and everything. Team player. Good of the squad. Rah. But when the game is on the line – you know, at the end – Jason Terry is always on the floor. Everyone involved knows he’s one of the Mavs’ four best players. Too small, too sloppy with the ball, too limited defensively. … but still one of the Mavs’ four best players.

     So maybe – Jet’s humility and the organization’s need to develop a wing aside -- he should occasionally start?

    "It was nice to be back out there and competing at a high level,'' said Terry, who offered a bonus with six assists. "With the guys we have out there, we've got a lineup that's been playing together for four or five years now. We know each other, and we play well with each other.''

     Of course, Terry made a lousy argument for himself in the Cleveland loss. He threw up a stinkaroo, scoring just five points and looking lost in trying to scamper about with all those Mo Williamses and Delonte Wests and Daniel Grahams. If watching Carlisle play Spread The Wealth at the starting 2-guard spot (damn Marxist!) didn’t poke at his pride, well. … getting honey-roasted by all the Cleveland smalls did.

     "We disrespected the game,'' Jet said Tuesday, reflecting on the Cleveland game and offering a glimpse into his level of pride.

      So what the hell, with no LeBron to contend with (as was the solid reasoning for starting Antoine Wright on Monday) and no Manu to contend with (and boy do the Spurs look wobbly without him), let’s spread some more wealth. For the first time this year, Jet starts.

      “I’m trying to figure out if there’s a way to start 82 different lineups,’’ Carlisle joked.

     Jason Terry might not be the long-term fix there. But it is hard to argue with the results. That delayed-floater in the lane was back. He turned the corner in the halfcourt offense. He looked awfully comfortable playing with the first-teamers instead of being The Savior Of The Scrubs. (Thus his aforementioned "comfort'' remark.) Jet shot 13 of 21 for 29 points.

     “We just needed more out of him,’’ said Dirk. “He responded great. We were joking after the game. We said, ‘Welcome to the ’08-’09 season, Jet.’ It’s definitely great to see him and looking forward to him being just more aggressive.’’

     That goes for you, too, Desperate Dirk.

     Add it up. Dirk and Jet each scored 15 by halftime. They totaled a combined 59 points. They each made 13 shots in the game. They each played 38 minutes (way cranked up for Jet.) They did so on a combined 26-of-53 shooting. Shop-and-compare that to the Cleveland game, in which they shot a combined 4-of-19 and totaled 12 points.

    And you’ve got your “Desperate Man’’ with hope.

    And you’ve got your “Wounded Animal’’ with a tourniquet.

711am nov 5 2008