One game and everything’s okay?

April 8th, 2008 Posted in Avery Johnson

I’ve been hearing from people that are posting in the comments and sending me e-mail that this site is now pointless since the Mavs finally beat a winning team.  Since it’s been a slow couple of days in Mavs land I thought now would be a good time to reply to those people.

Yes, this site was started because Avery benched Kidd with 30 seconds left in a key game against San Antonio.  But that was just the tipping point, not the sole reason.  For the past 3 years Avery has undoubtedly had great success in the regular season.  Well, at least until this season.  But this is an elite level team whose time to win a championship is now.

If it wasn’t for Manu Ginobili’s bone-headed foul on Dirk in game 7 of the series against the Spurs in 2006 Avery wouldn’t have gotten this team past the 2nd round of the playoffs in 3 years.  When you consider that, along with the Finals collapse, the playing down to Golden State in game 1 last year, not letting Devin Harris become the player he’s quickly showing he can be in New Jersey, benching Jason Kidd, seemingly not trusting Kidd until very recently, a stale, predictable end of game offensive game plan and constantly being outcoached, to me at least, it’s evident that he’s not the coach to take this team to the championship.

So having a team that has Dirk Nowitzki, Jason Kidd, Josh Howard, Jason Terry, Jerry Stackhouse, Erick Dampier and a deep bench finally beat a team that’s going to make the playoffs is not all of a sudden proof that he’s the man for the job.  Even Isiah Thomas gets a game right every now and then.

As I’ve said before, I’m a huge fan of this team.  I want them to win, I want to finally see an NBA championship in Dallas.  But I recognize that their window to do that is getting smaller very quickly.  That’s why, unless they win the championship this year, it has to be someone besides Avery leading this team next season.


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  1. 13 Responses to “One game and everything’s okay?”

  2. By Mark on Apr 8, 2008 at 10:59:15 am

    Fire Avery.

  3. By Spamboy on Apr 8, 2008 at 11:02:40 am

    And this site wasn’t previously pointless? This blog is a reaction to the current state of the team, which was obvious to detailed observers ever since the 2006 season. The window shut on this thing awhile back.

  4. By Greg on Apr 8, 2008 at 11:27:24 am

    Is it pointless for a fan base to voice their opinion of a team they help subsidize? To let ownership know that they’re not happy with the current state of the team? That they’re tired of seeing the prime of a top 10 current player’s career wasted?

  5. By PininFarina456 on Apr 8, 2008 at 11:53:30 am

    I couldn’t agree with you more. This site serves a purpose until either avery gets replaced or avery wins a championship.

    The faults listed by you don’t even do justice, he has had many mistakes that a good coach wouldn’t do. He made many mistakes in his first playoff series against Houston, and it became a 7 game series, causing the Mavs to have less energy against PHX, whom they could have beat.

    Don’t even get me started on the back to back monumental collapses which were simply from bad coaching. What kind of a coach changes a line up after 67 wins in a GAME 1 against the lowest seed??

    Anyhow, I’ll stop there, but the list goes on and on.

  6. By WyldMavsFan on Apr 8, 2008 at 12:09:38 pm

    I agree with Pinin, the website just started not that long ago, but Avery has been terrible since the Rockets series. He lost the 1st 2 games b/c he changed his lineup and finally went back to the regular lineup in game 3 and we won 4 of the next 5.

    against the spurs in the playoffs, he didn’t do anything special, Dirk was just the man in that series.

    GS needs no futher explanation and the Heat series was a huge coaching collapse.

    I have said this before and this is a huge reason Avery is awful. His record in game 1 on the playoffs is 2-5. The team that wins game 1, goes on to win about 75% of the series, so that record is a joke. 5 of those games were at home, we beat memphis (we swept them, and no coach could have lost us that series) and we beat the heat. We lost to the rockets, PHX twice, GS, and the spurs. Just awful and it’s b/c avery overcoaches (GS lineup) and finally makes the decision to do what we have always done in game 2 or 3 but losing game 1 is huge

  7. By "Five-O" on Apr 8, 2008 at 1:19:58 pm

    Wyld and Pinin are both on point. I think this site should continue to point out the awful decisions that Avery makes. It is a long long list.

    The Game 1 issue is similar to what happens to this team after halftime. Avery over thinks and analyzes, and we come out flat or looking awful. How many early third quarter timeouts has he called? I can remember a handful off the top of my head. This is a timeout after he just had 15 minutes to talk to the team.

    Also, why do we never go for the 2 for 1 at the end of quarters? Possessions are critical in the playoffs, and we are too passive on this front.

  8. By Mav in Cali on Apr 8, 2008 at 1:26:02 pm

    I definitely still agree with the basis of why this site was created. This is more of a “FireAveryIf.com” site than a “FireAvery.com” site, but that just doesn’t sound as good. I’m sure that most of the people that support this site believe in giving Avery his chances, but you have to realize that he’s already blown about 8 of his 9 lives.

    Fire Avery IF he still can’t win a championship and avoid monumental playoff collapses with the caliber of talent on this team. Fire Avery IF he can’t prove that he is learning from his mistakes, trusting his players more, dropping his pride and ego for the sake of the team, relying on his coaching staff (and hopefully a Mr. Harris above), and making the necessary changes to his coaching in order to bring a championship to Dallas. Fire Avery IF he refuses to change for others, as opposed to making them change for him.

    Like I said, “FireAveryIf.com” isn’t as sexy a URL, so for those site haters out there, you have to understand that this is merely a conditional statement. It’s not so black and white as many are taking it to be. I absolutely am not saying fire Avery just for the heck of it. If it ever comes down to that, it would be based on the previous collapses and terrible coaching decisions. And forward-looking it would be based on Avery’s inability to grow, learn and change if that ends up being the case.

    All we’re asking for are his eyes to be opened, because the statement the Mavs organization made when trading half the team for Kidd is that they want a championship NOW, not 5 years from now. You have to realize that the same thing goes for the coach. If you want a championship NOW, can you afford to have Avery learn and grow on the job while Dirk is in his prime? This team is one of the oldest in the NBA now, and because of that, we are not allowed the same buffer for coaching mistakes and playoff collapses as younger teams are. The window is closing. I have no doubt in my mind that Avery will be a very good if not great NBA coach in his future years, but the question you have to ask yourself is if you are willing to sacrifice Dirk’s prime as the time for Avery’s elementary school years of learning how to be an NBA head coach.

    This site only has the best intentions for the Mavs, and has been built by someone who just wants to see them get a championship, with or without Avery at the helm. And it allows those fans who have constructive criticism of Avery’s decisions to voice their opinions on a site that gives a loud statement. And honestly, it seems as if Avery may be hearing the cries and making changes due to this criticism, so it may very well already be serving its purpose.

    I wish we could simply fire Avery’s coaching decisions as opposed to firing Avery himself, but unfortunately in such a short window of time, it’s harder to separate the man from the mistakes. We’re all only hoping that Avery can change though and become the championship caliber head coach the Mavs need to win a title TODAY… because if he can’t, then this website’s name may be the only rational thing left to do.

  9. By John P. on Apr 8, 2008 at 1:58:51 pm

    For those who think that this site is pointless you are forgeting one thing. It is the fan base that makes a team. We buy tickets we support a team. But, if the losing becomes so frustrating then that loyalty gives us leverage to be able to speak up. This site provides fans the venue to speak up about something that we are passionate about. Dont forget that it is because of those fans that are so passionate that make an NBA organization matter and relevant.

  10. By PininFarina456 on Apr 8, 2008 at 2:38:51 pm

    Bottom line is this:

    MAVS should have won the championship 2 years ago and didn’t. The first person I blame for that is AJ. No team wins 4 straight in the finals EVER.

    Since then this team has been a laughing stock and seem gutless at times.

    How can we ever forgive AJ for these? Only way is he brings that championship to Dallas.

    End of story…

  11. By KeepingItReal on Apr 8, 2008 at 4:16:06 pm

    This website needs to exist until the Mavs win a championship. Even if Avery gets fired you should just replace his name with the new coach.

  12. By Kirk on Apr 8, 2008 at 4:21:36 pm

    FreeDarko.com has prospered long since Darko was freed and proved to the world he is a stiff. FireAvery.com should be around as long as people like reading Mavs commentary and discussing crappy coaching/management decisions. I like the site. I like the replies. Keep up the good work everybody!

  13. By James on Apr 9, 2008 at 10:55:49 am

    Hmmmm…AJ leads this team to more success than any other caoch in the team’s history…Yes I know that Nellie laid the foundation BUT he didn’t take them to the next level….Avery did…so don’t you think it’s only fitting that this man deserves more respect and credit than what you are giving him? Did The Spurs fire Popovich when he didn’t take them to championships or even make it to the finals BETWEEN the championships??? NO…That’s why they are good at what they do (which is build a winning team and make money doing it) and people like you are good at what you do (armchair coaches/GMs without a life who start websites to get other people fired). So you keep doing your thing….

    By the way…IF you were truly a fan then you would have started a site that focused on ALL of the team ills and not just firing one man…

    Your actions speak louder than your words…

  14. By DB on Apr 9, 2008 at 7:05:30 pm

    James, I echo your sentiments with the exception that the Spurs have won championships and Avery hasn’t, yet. I don’t recall us being ready to crucify Nellie and he had Dirty, Filthy and Nasty. Finley and Nash were both the age that Dirk is now (prime years) and we never made it to the Western Conference Finals. IF (since we like to throw around “if’s and but’s”) Kansas lost to Davidson in the regional final people in Lawrence would have wanted Bill Self on a platter for past tournament debacles. They didn’t lose and now he’s a genious. Thin threads.

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