Mavs fall short to the Trailblazers. Wait, what?

April 13th, 2008 Posted in Avery Johnson, Game Recap

That was quite an uninspired effort by the Mavericks tonight, both the players and the coach. Things didn’t start off well as Portland jumped out to a 37-21 lead in the first quarter. The Mavs just didn’t look at all interested in playing defense and Brandon Roy and LeMarcus Aldridge made them pay for it.

The game looked like it was going to be a complete blowout until the third quarter when the Mavs made a bit of a run. Damp played a big role in this with his interior defense during the run and it was easy to see when Brandon Bass entered the game for him in the fourth. So how does Avery reward Damp for good play? By sitting him for all but 20 seconds in the fourth while Malik Allen spared everyone to death.

The Mavs tied it up with a minute to go and then promptly gave up a and-one to Aldridge. Then Portland made their free-throws the rest of the way and beat the Mavs by the final of 108-105.

Maybe this game was just a case of the Mavs finally relaxing after clinching a playoff spot.  And after playing high intensity games for the past 2 months I can understand that.  But at the same time you want these guys to keep up any momentum they had built up over the last 5 or 6 games.

You could also say that this game really didn’t matter in the grand scheme of things.  If that was the case though why would Dirk play 40 minutes?  I know he said that he doesn’t want to rest and that the ankle won’t get better by not playing as much.  But do you really want to play him on a bad ankle for that long against the freakin’ Trailblazers?

In good news tonight the Hornets lost to Sacramento.  This puts the Lakers in the number one spot in the West and the Hornets fall to number two.  The Hornets would probably be the best team the Mavs could play in the first round so that’s good to see.  It’ll be interesting come Wednesday to see what kind of impact the Mavs game against the Hornets will have on the final standings.  If a win by the Mavs in that game would move the Hornets down to number three while the Spurs moved up, should the Mavs maybe hold back a little in that game?


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  1. 17 Responses to “Mavs fall short to the Trailblazers. Wait, what?”

  2. By MFFL on Apr 13, 2008 at 12:21:42 am

    Just when you think Avery has it figured out, he keeps surprising us with asinine decisions. Too sad to even comment on it anymore. But I do have a question - If the mavs win the game against the Sonics tomorrow (today I guess), are we guaranteed 7th spot??

  3. By PininFarina456 on Apr 13, 2008 at 1:16:06 am

    Although, I didn’t get to see most of the game I heard the first part on radio, and I don’t know if its just me, but I wasn’t happy with him starting Eddie Jones at forward.

    Don’t get me wrong, I like Eddie Jones a lot and he give this team something we need and I like him starting at guard earlier in the season, BUT, I really want to see Bass have more playing time especially since Jones was filling in at forward.

    IMHO, Bass and Jones both should have more playing time. But PLEASE someone tell Bass not to settle for jumpers, he needs to ATTACK.

    When is Magloire going to see playing time? I guess NEVER, unless Damp can’t play.

  4. By PininFarina456 on Apr 13, 2008 at 1:17:15 am

    O also, the Hornest would be a great first round opponent compared to the others.

    MAVS must keep momentum. At least Dirk shot a high percentage tonight.

  5. By Dave on Apr 13, 2008 at 2:11:39 am

    Avery Johnson is a terrible coach. Huge ego, control freak, won’t let his talented players who are better than he could ever hope to be just play. He has to micro manage everything. You can tell the players hate playing for him and probably just tune him out. That style of coaching will never work in the NBA. He’s extremely naive about how to get the best out of his team offensively, wont let the players play to their strengths, instead they have to conform to his iso offense. He might as well put handcuffs on Jason Kidd the way he restricts his play

    It’s pretty obvious that Cuban hates Avery and would fire him if he didn’t have so many years left on his contract. When the Mavs go out in the first round he may just bite the bullet and get it done. It takes alot of skill to lose with as much talent as Avery has had at his disposal.

    His winning percentage is the biggest joke ever, he inherited a winning team that Don Nelson put together and Cuban financed to the hilt. Anyone could have walked into that situation and done a good job. But Avery found a way to **** it up with his terrible coaching ability.

    I hated him as a player but he’s even more annoying as a coach.

  6. By mrtwister on Apr 13, 2008 at 2:45:43 am

    Didn’t see the game but saw the play by play. Were the last 2 shots drawn up for Terry or did he just back himself and take them? Seemed mighty strange that a guy (who can shoot, I’ll give him that) who is 3-13 on the night be given the green light in the clutch. Yeah, I know, shooters mentality and all that, but seriously, as a half decent coach, you should be going to who’s getting it done on the night. Without being disrespectful, Terry wasn’t getting it done. Take your pick Avery, Dirk (10-17), Jones (6-7), even Kidd (4-9) were all having a much better shooting night. If Avery didn’t draw these plays up for Terry then good on Terry for being confident and aggressive but decision making like that down the stretch won’t serve well for the Playoffs.
    This one shouldn’t have gotten away Mavs.

  7. By DB on Apr 13, 2008 at 11:54:14 am

    Although I didn’t catch most the game last night because the I was busy watching the Stars KILL the Ducks for the second time in a row (which was hellov awesome to watch). I still can’t help but think that Kidd isn’t being used to his full potential. Still at the end of the game and down the stretch plays aren’t being drawn up to have the ball in his hands to make something happen. Collapsing the defense and throwing out for a wide open 3 or a high percentage open jump shot for Dirk or a dunk by a cutting Dampier is what I want to see! Or hell Kidd can just take it to the basket and throw up a layup. Granted he hasn’t been very good at making shots but he’s a pretty good free throw shooter if he gets fouled. In any case he can make something happen. All I am asking is to utilize that ridiculously expensive future hall of fame point guard that we picked up to the fullest extent. The sooner Avery can REALLY let go and let Kidd play his game without being micromanaged the sooner we see something really good happen with this team again.

  8. By captainjack on Apr 13, 2008 at 1:31:08 pm

    I have not blogged in awhile because I was a little frustrated. But hell, the post above by “Dave” says what I have said all along and I agree with everything her wrote. I would like to point out that the mavs would not have won the jazz game (at least not in regulation) if AVery had had a f ing timeout to use. He took away any chance to win the laker game with his friggin timeouts. And in the laker game you could hear that irritating voice yelling the whole game (I have uverse and the sound is unreal) You have a point guard now who is currently the best in the game with a broken court. Not bad in a set but not nearly as good, so what do you do with 10 seconds left and you need a bucket to tie in the staple center? call time out so AVERY can draw up a play, which all he does is iso’s anyway. I knew as soon as the timeout was taken that the mavs would lose the laker game. The man reduced his odds of scoreing by at lease half. Did he think he would get a call on kobe rapist’s court? hell no. Take a page out of jerry slones book, a real pro coach. Let friggin Kidd create when you need a bucket at the end, don’t shorten the field and let phil jackson get his 5 best defenders in the game. This kind of BS (and the stripes who hate cuban) will kill us in the playoffs. I guess I did have something to add to Daves blog. Fire Avery.

  9. By MFFL on Apr 13, 2008 at 1:31:36 pm

    I bet you all we would have won the game if we hadn’t had any timeouts like the Jazz game. Because Kidd or even Jones would have passed it to Dirk to make the play, not Terry. Eddie Jones has a better 3 pts percentage than Terry and he was having a much better offensive night, even he would have been better to take the shot. The only time Terry is remotely good is if he’s having a good night, which doesn’t come often enough for my liking. And when Portland called a timeout the last time, Avery should have put Dampier in, or anyone who plays any sort of defense, because not only did Terry NOT make any sort of stop, he made a stupid foul for a three point play. Again, WHY was Dampier on the bench???

  10. By Avery on Apr 13, 2008 at 2:39:11 pm

    Timeout!
    Guys give me a break. Kidd is almost ready for the playoffs; I’ve broken him down to run half court sets.
    Nowitzki is ready to go at the post in his isolation plays.
    Damp is ready to sit the fourth period.
    Bass knows not to shake the rims.
    Me, I bought my house in Cancun and I heard the weather is real nice starting in 2 weeks.
    How long do those playoffs last anyways?

  11. By Mark on Apr 13, 2008 at 3:35:03 pm

    Do the Mavericks have an inbound play? I have not seen one all year.

  12. By mrtwister on Apr 13, 2008 at 4:11:14 pm

    I think the inbound play is to isolate the inbounder. Oh crap, he can’t shoot from there can he?

    Seriously, did Avery draw up the last 2 shots for Terry? I’m assuming he did from other people’s comments but I’m still not sure.

    Trust me, I’ve played some ball in my time and I can tell you, the hardest plays to gaurd are the ones where the offense is playing to what the defence is giving them. Kicking the ball to the open man from a defender helping out, hitting a back door cutter going to the basket resulting from a defender stepping up to take away the lane from dribble penetration, on ball screen if the ball defender is playing too tight etc.

    The only other thing that works is a well drawn up play with plenty of offensive movement to keep all the defenders guessing and moving to ensure they play by instinct which could result in a curl cut to the basket or a step back high side above a screen for an open shot or even a ’shock factor’ lob to a back cutter etc. The key is for it to be something you’ve kept up your sleeve THAT THE OTHER TEAM ISN’T EXPECTING OR HAS EVEN SEEN BEFORE.

    Isolation plays do not count as either of these, especially when you run it ALL the time.

    Avery, you’re not getting paid the big bucks to throw crappy plays at the team and then wash your hands after a tight loss because they couldn’t score off it. A team that can win consistently down the stretch it a well coached team. A team that makes the Playoffs is not necessarily a well coached team.

    And, a coach that can run a team to it’s strengths is a good coach. A coach that is too stubborn and set in his ways to change anything regardless of his players or his results is a fool and he will eventually be found out and proven as such.

  13. By selke99 on Apr 13, 2008 at 10:05:43 pm

    Against Jazz, Damp plays the final couple of minutes. He’s instrumental in knocking back a couple of offensive rebounds after misses in the last minute. Keeps Jazz out of the paint. Mavs win.

    Blazers game. Damp not used at the end of the game. Blazers score at will in the paint. Allen (is Avery sleeping with the guy?) can’t cover his man. Allen has played 5 minutes in the game, has missed over a week due to injury, yet he’s there at crunchtime. JET limply fouls Blazer in paint on layup, allowing an extra point Mavs can’t chase down. Mavs lose.

    Just mind-boggling decision to not put Damp at the end when it just worked 2 nights ago.

  14. By mike on Apr 13, 2008 at 10:30:55 pm

    What the hell was that?!?? Losing against Seattle?!? What a terrible effort against a bunch of rookies tonight!!! Dallas should NOT have lost this game…. any confidence I had for this team’s playoff chances disappeared after tonight.

  15. By DB on Apr 13, 2008 at 10:32:04 pm

    Laughable game, laughable ending yet again by the Avery Johnson led Mavericks. Good thing we have momentum going into the finals and beat two very sorry teams and clinched 7th seed. OH WAIT!?

    I believe I’ll keep watching the Stars and hopefully the Mavs will be able to come up clutch in the playoffs like the Stars have. . .

  16. By CB on Apr 13, 2008 at 10:39:59 pm

    What a joke! Have time to get an easy 2 for 1 coming out of time out and can’t even get the shot of in time then give up a lay-up on the other end. This team is NOT responding to Avery. He is all over the place with his substitution and Dirk is the only one one on this team with any heart. Why is he playing Malik Allen, Juwan Howard, & Eddie Jones all the time. HAVE A CLUE!!!!!!!!!!

  17. By MFFL on Apr 13, 2008 at 11:03:50 pm

    haha, this was too funny to even be upset about. maybe the Mavs are seeing how bad they can play and still win games. Pitiful!!! Are they trying to play the Lakers first round??? What the heck was the performance today? And JET takes the final shot again since he was SO clutch for us yesterday.

  18. By blah on Apr 13, 2008 at 11:15:55 pm

    And they lose to Seattle. Was that idiot Avery trying to lose the game?

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