What a win for the Mavs

April 10th, 2008 Posted in Avery Johnson, Mavs Talk


Wow, what a great game and a great win for the Mavs tonight.

The Mavs came out in the first quarter and took off to a 14 point lead in the first 6 minutes. The Jazz came back but the Mavs stretched it back out to a 6 point lead at the half. Then they came out at the start of the second half and just couldn’t make a bucket. That led to just a one point lead going into the fourth.

Then Dirk and JET took over, scoring 25 of the Mavs 30 points in the fourth quarter. The game was back and forth in the quarter until the Mavs took a 94-91 lead with 9 seconds left.

I’ve got to give Avery a ton of credit here. During the timeout with 9 seconds left the camera was in the Mavs huddle and it was picking up what Avery was saying. It sounded like the entire timeout he was telling them to foul if the ball got inside the 3 point line. I love that strategy and as the Memphis-Kansas game showed Monday night there’s no reason at all not to do it. Especially when Deron Williams and Kyle Korver are going to be setup waiting to get the ball.

On the inbound Devean George tried to foul Williams but didn’t get the call and Williams banked in a three. Then you’ve got Eddie Jones running the ball up the court. I like what Jones has been giving this team lately but that’s not a situation I want him to be in.

But Dirk was right there with him and got open on the wing and hit the game winning three. It’s ridiculous how clutch and dominating Dirk has been lately. If he can keep up these kind of performances in the playoffs and Avery doesn’t make any huge mistakes this team has the potential to make a deep run.


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  1. 23 Responses to “What a win for the Mavs”

  2. By MK on Apr 10, 2008 at 10:47:17 pm

    It sounded like the entire timeout he was telling them to foul if the ball got inside the 3 point line.

    I didnWhy in the world, when you are up by three, would you foul them inside the 3 point line. That makes no sense. You have a greater chance of converting closer to the basket. Give them get the 2 points, inbounds the ball and let them foul you.
    You foul them outside the 3 point line as soon as they get the ball. By turning it into a free throw shooting contest for the last few seconds, you maximize the Mavs chance to win.

  3. By John on Apr 10, 2008 at 10:50:20 pm

    Yup, I hope people keep calling Dirk a choker and he keeps on punishing their teams. Good work by the Mavs and credit to Avery. And credit to the maker of this site because in my opinion this website put pressure on Avery and Avery took it the right way and he is improving as a coach.

  4. By DB on Apr 10, 2008 at 11:32:54 pm

    I just want to point out that Dampier was a +13 while only scoring 4 points himself. Come on people (ahem, Avery as well) +13 on 4 points!! Kid was a +9 and nobody else was even close. If that doesn’t say something about the big guy then I don’t know what would.

    Only thing that really bugged me about this game that I saw a couple times and it has happened in the previous couple of games is their double teaming way outside of the arc. Every time I see that play called something bad happens inside. Why in the world you would send Damp or Dirk out for a double team outside of the arc is beyond me.

    All in all a pretty solid finish. That banked 3 point shot was just pure luck on the part of the Jazz and Dirk’s was just pure skill. ‘Nuff said.

  5. By James on Apr 10, 2008 at 11:48:04 pm

    Ho Humm…this is getting boring now…BUT…what the heck…FIRE-WHO-DOT-COM???

    So how many good game wins do you need NOW Greg, to realize that AJ is “DA MAN”?…Give him his due….

  6. By mrtwister on Apr 11, 2008 at 12:11:42 am

    Wow James. When the Mavs suck it’s not Avery’s fault but when they excel it Avery who should get the credit? Who’s irrational now?

  7. By Jamaal Magloire on Apr 11, 2008 at 12:35:54 am

    why me not play in game??

  8. By Mav in Cali on Apr 11, 2008 at 12:43:21 am

    Great game by the Mavs! Dirk ROCKED from what I hear (too bad I can’t watch the non-nationally televised games here). At least I could watch GS lose, and then hear my neighbors crying next door. Props due all around for the win, even to Avery (for not losing the game…ha ha… nudge nudge).

    And yes this is still FIREAVERY.COM. We just want Avery to prove us wrong each and every game, and we will happily take the results whenever he does.

  9. By Andrew on Apr 11, 2008 at 1:20:44 am

    Im still not drinking the Mavs kool-aid. We’ve been alot closer before only to have it end in heartbreak. For Avery to earn another year, they need to go deep in the playoffs and show promise for next year.

  10. By ric rules on Apr 11, 2008 at 1:39:19 am

    how is this site still functioning

    its a contradiction in itself

    the way the mavs are playing right now, how do you think you have any credibilty in here

  11. By ric rules on Apr 11, 2008 at 1:41:03 am

    andrew that is what sports are all about, you get there and if you dont win, you still have next year, its not like we are under some time limit

    we have an owner who will pay anything, and players want to play for his team
    we have a coach that knows how to win from the sideline

    and we have a superstar with probably 12 all start season left
    and he is obviously getting better as he gets older

    dirk has been the best player in the NBA since coming off the high ankle sprain

  12. By ric rules on Apr 11, 2008 at 1:42:08 am

    im gald to see most of you giving credit to avery but your doing it on a site protesting he be fired

    you dont know what your talking about
    a coach down in san antonio has won 4 titles with the same philosiphy of play

    we are already a contender and have the best shot of any winning team to sign new impact talent

  13. By sam on Apr 11, 2008 at 5:25:15 am

    To ric rules: man this site is up becuase of what we have seen from avery the last 3 years, we as fan should be able to protest when things aren’t working out and when there is an obvious source to the problem. Have you watched the mavericks in the postseason the last 2 years? Anyways it seems as if avery is doing ok for the moment but still lets wait till the playoffs and see what this whole season culminates to before we say “lets give avery his due”

  14. By WyldMavsFan on Apr 11, 2008 at 9:21:12 am

    People think just b/c we win that Avery did a great job. I think the reason we won, is b/c we ran out of timeouts, b/c if we had one more, you know Avery wouldn’t have drawn up a good play, b/c he never does.

    The thing that is going to hurt us in the playoffs, it Avery inconsistent subing. It’s baffling to see what he is doing, and Juwan Howard has no business seeing any minutes. To start the 4th he put Dirk back in and pulled Bass out (having just played the last 4min of the 3rd) and put Juwan Howard in. If anyone out there can tell me one thing Juwan can do better than Bass, I would like to hear it. These are the little things that Avery does that are going to kill us in the playoffs.

    He pulled Terry out 5min into both halves. Jet didn’t attempt a single shot in the 1st half b/c Avery didn’t play him much. This is a guy who has been on a roll lately and he pulls him out 5min into the game when the team is on a huge run. Terry had a great game, and it couldn’t have been even better if Avery let him play in the 1st half.

    Again, I could go on and on about the little things he does that are going to hurt us in the playoffs, but we did win and that’s great, but Avery still doesn’t have a clue who should be in the game and who shouldn’t.

    People who think Avery should only be fired if we lose games don’t know who bad he is even when we win.

  15. By richard on Apr 11, 2008 at 10:53:09 am

    Any body here happy the Mavs didn’t have a timeout? Seems like drawing up last second plays is not Avery’s forte.

  16. By PininFarina456 on Apr 11, 2008 at 11:01:52 am

    Why is anyone mentioning the purpose of the site, how many times do I have to repeat this:

    The only way AJ can prove himself is by getting a championship, or damn close to it, end of story. Until then, this site serves a purpose.

    Since we have a few big wins, everyone is all excited, wait till the playoffs people! Thats when it really counts!

  17. By PininFarina456 on Apr 11, 2008 at 11:03:34 am

    Now for comments on the game :D,

    Did anyone notice at the beginning of the 2nd half when the Jazz were making a run AJ was screaming all over and running back to the half court ISO. This is the biggest thing that bothers me about this team. Once AJ trusts in Kidd, this team will go deep.

  18. By Mav in Cali on Apr 11, 2008 at 1:36:29 pm

    Pinin…Amen!

    Richard and Wyld… totally happy that we didn’t have any timeouts left at the end of the game. You know from past experience that if there was a timeout, the next play would be an iso for Dirk and a hottly contested shot. Avery didn’t have the opportunity to call a play, thus the players did what they are paid to do, and used their own brains to make a good basketball play. Result = Mavs win.

  19. By sam on Apr 11, 2008 at 1:40:03 pm

    “Since we have a few big wins, everyone is all excited, wait till the playoffs people! Thats when it really counts!
    ” - PininFarina

    Amen to that brotha, They do look like they are getting some things together but its not the time to start celebrating and speculating how far we will get in the playoffs. Watch and wait to see what happens

  20. By ogleboy on Apr 11, 2008 at 3:45:27 pm

    we got to keep this going into the playoffs so that when we actually win a series no one will be suprised

  21. By mike on Apr 11, 2008 at 4:11:57 pm

    For those of you questioning why Juwan Howard was in for Bass, I’d like to see you play 48 minutes in an NBA game. It’s not that easy, folks; they’re pros for a reason.

  22. By selke99 on Apr 11, 2008 at 5:35:31 pm

    While I do agree some of Avery’s decisions have been suspect, it is pretty harsh to say this team has to win a championship to keep his job. That is just idiotic. It’s not like Mavs should be blowing all these other teams away! Did we forget all the sucky years before? All we can hope for is a deep run and we’ll see what happens!!

  23. By Kante on Apr 11, 2008 at 9:11:01 pm

    Why not having Jones in such Situations? He was the right man, no panic from him, he knew what to do.

    1. No TO
    2. Run the Court
    3. Find Dirk and gets Fingers crossed!

  24. By Adyer on Apr 12, 2008 at 2:51:41 pm

    Love your site. I really do. Conscientious objector and stuff. I can get behind that.

    BUT…

    You need to line up all these 50-win teams next to each other and count the wins and losses and really REALLY decide whether this particular 50-win team is so independent of its coach that it can get there entirely despite a coach’s mistakes.

    And are those other teams with all those losses really REALLY just suffering from player problems and not coaching problems?

    I’m all for criticizing Avery but I have yet to see much in the way of, “Well, wait…maybe we don’t really understand what’s going on here…”

    Because, like, we don’t.

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