Mavs-Hornets Game 4

April 27th, 2008 Posted in Avery Johnson, Mavs Talk

Late game 4 tonight but I’m going to be away from a computer most of the day, so putting the post up early.

If the Mavs stick with the adjustments they made Friday they should be able to win this game.  They just have to keep attacking the basket, fighting through picks and just overall be the aggressor in the game.

Part of those adjustments in game 3 included a 7 man rotation in the second half, during which Jerry Stackhouse didn’t play.  It looks like Stack didn’t like that very much.

“I ain’t going to try to overthink it too much,” Stack said. “I’m just going to try to come back Sunday.”

“I’m still a little apprehensive to go all out,” he said. “Just that hard burst to the right that I always do, I don’t feel as comfortable with it right now. Hopefully, I’ll just continue to build up to it. But I’m getting some looks that I feel I should be knocking down, regardless of what’s going on.”

So the guy is still hurt but he’s upset he’s not playing?  I guess that says something about Stack and what a gamer he is but at the same he’s got to realize if he’s hurt he shouldn’t be on the floor.

For his part Avery said they have a rotation they’re sticking with now.

“But right now, we’re going with the rotation we have now and hopefully he’ll get a few more minutes. He’s not where he needs to be in conditioning and timing.”

The Mavs have to win this game, going back to New Orleans down 3-1 would be the end of this series.

Go Mavs!


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  1. 66 Responses to “Mavs-Hornets Game 4”

  2. By Elraptor on Apr 27, 2008 at 11:41:01 am

    Hornets win but a very close game. Dallas have a chance though.

  3. By JParas on Apr 27, 2008 at 2:58:38 pm

    Loved the fan energy at the last game…Keep it up MFFLs:)…

  4. By camaro32 on Apr 27, 2008 at 3:54:11 pm

    Man I hope Avery isn’t lying and is not going to succumb to making Stack happy. He needs to stick with that 7 man rotation and especially make sure to get Bass in the game consistently.

    How about Dirk’s D on Friday? It was a thing of beauty. He was stepping up and stopping Paul’s penetration while also making sure to prevent that stupid alley-oop play to Chandler. If Dirk can continue to guard Chandler effectively, we can play Bass at the same time (guarding West) and save ourselves from the clear exploitation of Dampier that was occurring the first two games. With Terry on Paul, I think we’re set. Pargo will NOT have another 30 point game, so as long as Kidd can contain him and help out some on Paul, that will be good too. I’m pretty excited about tonight if it’s not evident.

  5. By Dave B on Apr 27, 2008 at 5:16:39 pm

    Avery NEEDS to stick to this 7 man rotation, however, as obvious as that is, I could see Avery playing Stack way more than he should. Hell, he’ll probably start knowing how much Avery is in love with him.

  6. By drew on Apr 27, 2008 at 5:40:43 pm

    Man, so much hate and everyone calls themselves fans. They win and people still bitching. Stack can be effective and he’s known for his clutch game. Although he is still not 100%, that should be a reason he shouldn’t play as many minutes. But any player is hungry for minutes, hurt or not, so don’t dog the guy for wanting to play. I know if I were a player, hurt or not, I’d be mad cause I wasn’t getting minutes. Again, words that could have been taken out of context cause the media ask stupid questions to begin with or the same question game after game. One thing I learned so far in life, don’t trust the main media and if it’s on the internet, it’s probably not true.

    The MAVS will win by 12 is my prediction. Avery will stick to his main rotation, Hornets can’t beat us at home. We just need to play aggressive and beat them at home just once and the series is ours.

  7. By camaro32 on Apr 27, 2008 at 5:54:11 pm

    Sorry Drew but I think “people still bitching” because Avery has found a way to screw up a good thing time and time again. It’s definitely legit to be worried that Avery will get cute, but more so that NO will figure out a way to adjust and Avery will be left in the dark again and spend his usual 2-3 games catching up with stuff that most coaches figure out in 1-2 quarters. This is what happened after we beat NO the last game of the season if you recall. They came back and handled us cause Avery was content with his winning strategy from that game.

    Hell, I get happier than anyone when the Mavs win, but I would say that most diehard fans are pretty damn jaded right now because we haven’t been able to consistently win all year. It’s fun to get excited after a big win, but unfortunately we seem to have a head coach who gets more excited than the fans and decides to celebrate his victories by taking the next few days off and not looking ahead with counter-strategies in case the other team adjusts. Basically, if NO changes ANYTHING, we’re screwed unless Westphal recognizes what to do because Avery is riding his high horse again.

    I do agree with you completely about the media though. They bait players and plant questions to get some fodder for articles. Stack is pretty outspoken, so they definitely target him more and try to get some good quotes from him to twist for their storylines.

  8. By KS on Apr 27, 2008 at 9:56:47 pm

    We are witnessing a coach who made positive adjustments following a loss - and it isn’t Avery. The Mavs transition offense is nowhere and what was that crazy lineup AJ put out on the court at the end of the first quarter. JJ? Stack? Devean? (Well at least he played some defense.) Does anyone have confidence that Avery can adjust at half time? Of course not. He is so overmatched intellectually it isn’t funny.

  9. By tani on Apr 27, 2008 at 10:27:20 pm

    The pot effect. Josh Howard is 3 of 14. Why is this player taking more shots than anyone else on the team?

  10. By Kirk on Apr 27, 2008 at 10:37:39 pm

    Better question, why is Stack still playing. he has contributed as much to the score as i have

  11. By avery.supporter on Apr 27, 2008 at 10:43:12 pm

    Leave Avery alone. What percentage of the comments left are by people that have actually played a real game of basketball. No playing at 24 hr fitness is not real basketball. Clueless!!!

  12. By tmh on Apr 27, 2008 at 10:45:18 pm

    The mavs lost all momentium toward the end of the first quarter start of the second when Avery brought it in the crazy lineup. They haven’t gotten it back yet!!!

  13. By MFFL on Apr 27, 2008 at 10:47:32 pm

    If the Mavs this game, Avery should NOT be blamed..and trust me, I’ve been saying he should go all along. Stack, J-Ho — NONE existent. I can not believe they are putting such a performance in the playoffs. They honestly should be ashamed of themselves and Cuban needs to find a replacement for both of them soon. J-Ho will keep declining - ya fool, keep smoking the pot! Stack needs to nurse his injury…and Kidd - LOL, he’s a JOKE! He has absolutely removed his name from ever being mentioned in the same sentence with Hall of Fame ever since he became a Mav!
    Dirk, Terry, Bass, and even George - the only players that are worth anything right now!

  14. By game over! on Apr 27, 2008 at 10:51:50 pm

    Tight!!! Does a flagrant 2 mean Kidd gets suspended next game? Yes or no, that was some gravity defying crap.

    By the way, same story, different year…Mavs lose to a younger, more aggressive team by mis-managing line ups, substitutions, and their weed supply.

  15. By MFFL on Apr 27, 2008 at 10:51:52 pm

    And actually, I don’t mind seeing the Hornets win anymore…as I’ll like to see CP3 and West AND their coach being outclassed, out-performed, and shamed by the Spurs. It will be my greatest pleasure to watch them get swept. I actually used to like the team until now - I never noticed how much CP3 flails all over the place, especially when driving, and he gets the call. And the thug West is just that, a thug!

  16. By mike on Apr 27, 2008 at 10:58:26 pm

    Avery Johnson, Jerry Stackhouse, and Josh Howard need to go. They all had a chance to keep this series alive tonight, and they all blew it.

  17. By Kirk on Apr 27, 2008 at 11:01:25 pm

    Avery.Supporter…

    You must not watch many mavs games, read many post game stories with comments, or watch any other team games. Avery is a very poor head coach. He believes his system is why the mavs win and the players are why the team loses. He can’t make in game adjustments. His Iso offense was good for a season, but like all things it needs new wrinkles. He has no idea how to establish a rotation and stick with it.

    If you dont believe me, read the paper tomorrow; he will blame the loss on something other than saying “As a team, we all must shoulder responsibility for this loss”, like a Coach should when a team is down on their luck. No, he will blame kidd, or howard, or JJ barea, anyone but himself. If you think the iso offense is God like avery, well you dont know anything about basketball. If you think he has a sensible rotation, go look at the NO game logs, the bench players play different amount of minutes each night. If you think he can make in game adjustments, see the game 2 shellacking we took when the Mavs couldn’t defend the pick and roll.

    And yes, I played basketball in high school, if you’ll count that. I actually got pwned in a few games by a couple of Olympians from the DFW area, in Deron Williams and Chris Bosh.

    The people on this board know basketball, and love the Mavericks. And we hate Avery. He is an awful egotistical maniac who should go coach the bulls and then, and only then he’ll see how great he had it in Dallas and how badly he screwed the pooch.

    FIRE AVERY.

  18. By Lee on Apr 27, 2008 at 11:03:49 pm

    Another idiotic decision by Avery was the turning point of the game. Why the hell did he put in JJ Barea? Even with Lue hurt, Barea should not be getting any playing time at all. Notice that with that moronic lineup, the hornets went on a big run and never looked back.

    Then the genius calls time out and what does he do to stop the bleeding…puts in old man stackhouse who has done nothing all series. Seriously Avery needs to go.

    I still feel like this team can be a contender next year if they can get an athlete like Kirelenko or Kenyon Martin or even travis outlaw to run with kidd. Maybe try to dump howard while he still has some value, but it might be too late for that.

  19. By camaro32 on Apr 27, 2008 at 11:04:11 pm

    We’re wasting Dirk’s prime. Season is over now with nothing to show except no draft picks and an aging point guard who can’t really lead the team like he was brought in to do. Avery of course got outcoached again to top it all off. Pathetic.

  20. By MFFL on Apr 27, 2008 at 11:09:51 pm

    True Kirk!
    Honestly though, I don’t see the series going past 6 games, if that, and when that happens, I don’t see that happening either.
    I doubt they will resign Stack after his horrible year - as I believe his contract will be up - one more roster opening
    I do believe we should trade J-Ho for another player who can be a better 2nd or 3rd option - as I’ve always said, he’s NEVER good for an entire game and he absolutely stinks in the playoffs..before he had his defense going, now he doesn’t even have that
    - I’m not sure what we can do with Kidd, maybe someone will take him off our hands? Because seriously, we can’t play transition everytime, and that’s his only use.
    Dirk, Bass, Terry, Wright (who knows, potential?), Dampier (we DO need a big man), and even George (Defense)- remove everyone else.

  21. By Richard on Apr 27, 2008 at 11:10:48 pm

    This team lost all rhythm at the start of the 2nd quarter. Avery just couldn’t help himself by bringing in J.J. Barea!! Maybe he sees some of himself in J.J. but unless you see two Hall of Fame 7 footers on the floor with J.J. then it’s a mistake. Remember Avery was only successful when he had Duncan and Robinson to throw the ball to. This makes me sick. I finally figured out why we come out of the half so flat. It’s because Byron Scott makes real adjustments while Avery gives baseball analogies. He just couldn’t help himself with Barea and Stackhouse. He might as well start packing up his office. AND PLEASE TAKE YOUR ASTERISK RING WITH YOU!!!

  22. By GtiRSmiley on Apr 27, 2008 at 11:14:02 pm

    Fire avery.

    Trade stackhouse, trade josh howard.

    Then we might have a chance at something.

  23. By ihatekidd on Apr 27, 2008 at 11:16:21 pm

    ^^ i agree except fire kidd and get a new owner too haha….this team lost its rhythm when D.HARRIS left :-(

  24. By drew on Apr 27, 2008 at 11:18:28 pm

    This team lost as a team tonight only shooting 35%. Terry can’t win it all on his own.

    As for the flagrant 2 foul, that was actual bullshit. Not Kidd’s fault he mistaken the guys head for the ball. Should have only been a flagrant 1, but then again, he didn’t show up for the game either.

    And at least JJ was hitting shots at the end, more than Kidd and Howard did the whole game.

  25. By drew on Apr 27, 2008 at 11:19:51 pm

    Anyone at the game know who the heckler was under the basket exchanging words with Cuban. He should be beat on the street for being a total ass clown.

  26. By FreeDirk on Apr 27, 2008 at 11:21:47 pm

    Ride Avery Johnson all you want, but when we get next to zero offensive production out of Howard and Stackhouse, we’re just too easy to guard, and too easy to beat. Kidd appears to be spent for his career. Dampier, well, what really needs to be said?

    That’s it, guys. That’s whatcha got.

    This team DOESN’T have a shot at anything, get it? Fire Avery, trade Howard, trade Stack, fine. What you’ll get is an EVEN LESS TALENTED, EVEN MORE DISORIENTED TEAM playing for the same f**k-up of an owner.

    Free Dirk. He’s still got a lot of amazing basketball left in him, and I hate to see it wasted on a poisoned franchise.

  27. By ihatekidd on Apr 27, 2008 at 11:22:30 pm

    fuuck that im mad MORE people didn’t start yelling @ Cuban they should have all carried him out and hung him

  28. By drew on Apr 27, 2008 at 11:23:04 pm

    And I don’t blame Avery tonight on some of the rotations he made, he was simply trying to find someone to actually score besides Terry and Dirk.

    And what happened to attacking the basket? It was working in the first quarter, then they all got lazy and kept trying to hit jump shots, which clearly doesn’t work when you shoot 35% and against a team that beat us with fast break points. NO had 18 to our 4 or so, that’s what won them the game.

  29. By ihatekidd on Apr 27, 2008 at 11:23:27 pm

    TRADE DIRK AND JET 2 NJ AND WE ALL BECOME NETS FANS!! haha im so pissed

  30. By blah on Apr 27, 2008 at 11:25:07 pm

    The Jason Kidd trade will screw the Mavs for the next 5 years.

  31. By Eric on Apr 27, 2008 at 11:26:06 pm

    Ok. First things first. The trade for Kidd has been done and why are the mavs still running a two man game with Kidd. Kidd is not a shooter and that’s not his strengths. How many times you see Kidd bring the ball up the court and then pass it off immediately where Kidd ends up being the weakside jump shooter. This guy is going to the Hall of Fame and all Avery can think of is running the same plays as he did with Devin Harris. Secondly, how long will it take Avery to figure out that Stackhouse is still not healed fully. It took him the first two playoff games before Avery knew he wasn’t’ the same yet. If it takes just a normal basketball fan to figure it out in the beginning then why doesn’t he adjust. Avery is so stubborn and it takes him a couple of games to figure thing out. Too many times does he wait until its too late to make adjustments. He has a veteran back up point guard in Tyronn Lue and he goes with JJ Barea in the 4th game of the playoffs. Why even sign Lue if Avery cant trust anyone. Enough of my rant and FIRE AVERY!

  32. By Andrew on Apr 27, 2008 at 11:26:06 pm

    At least one Dallas team dominated tonight…GO STARS!!!!!

  33. By game over! on Apr 27, 2008 at 11:27:58 pm

    Here’s a look at the Nets record w/ Kidd on board.

    2005-06 49 33 .598
    2004-05 42 40 .512
    2003-04 47 35 .573
    2002-03 49 33 .598
    2001-02 52 30 .634

    Get used to this or worse if Kidd gets a contract in Dallas…

    WHERE 4:20 HAPPENS

  34. By Andrew on Apr 27, 2008 at 11:30:15 pm

    Seinfeld re-run was funny tonight…I was watching it on and off during the game.

  35. By ihatekidd on Apr 27, 2008 at 11:31:14 pm

    HEY MAYBE IF HE WAS SUCH A GREAT COACH HE WOULDN’T OF LET MARK GET RID A HARRIS AND DIOP AND GET KIDD WHO PLAYS LIKE HE’S 67 AND FUCK UP THE CHEMISTRY OF A 67 GAME WINNING TEAM! ever think of that?

  36. By drew on Apr 27, 2008 at 11:31:45 pm

    Yeah, it’s like the person who commented on asking why Avery benched Dirk and Kidd in game 3 in the first quarter. Well, you see, let me explain.. nevermind, I won’t waste my time in explaining how a team sport works.

    The only time you can point the full blame on a person in any sport is when that person makes up the whole team, like tennis or golf.

  37. By drew on Apr 27, 2008 at 11:36:31 pm

    ihatekidd,

    Easier said than done. Clearly you have never worked a real job with a boss or owner. I would love to see you go up against your boss when they have the final say.

    And if everyone just hates Avery for these crazy playoffs and the finals failure, have a good look around the league. Like for example, Sloan for the Jazz. Hmm, no championship after going to the finals, many playoffs with no winning results and he’s still their coach.

    A championship doesn’t happen overnight. Avery is only in his 3rd year, he’s still a rookie and learning. I think he’s accomplished a hell of a lot for only coaching in 3 full seasons.

    The team lost as a whole tonight, I rest my case.

  38. By ihatekidd on Apr 27, 2008 at 11:38:37 pm

    i USED to be a huuge avery supporter and i USED to defend him, i’m not placing the full blame on him but he and cuban are a huge part of the problem and obviously something needs to change

  39. By tani on Apr 27, 2008 at 11:39:31 pm

    The Mavs have two big problems:

    First, Avery Johnson is not a coach. The Mavs players look confused on the court. They just don’t understand what their roles are. What is Josh Howard’s role? What is Stack’s role? Who is supposed to lock the best player of the other team? Who is supposed to shot? Who is supposed to penetrate? I just see 5 guys standing around playing 1 on 1 basketball. This is NOT basketball. If you can’t figure out in 82 games what your players are supposed to do, then you should quit as a coach.

    Second, some of the Mavs players just suck. Josh Howard is a moron who doesn’t understand his game. Stack throws bricks. Damp is an overpaid static center. Basically, half of the team sucks.

  40. By ihatekidd on Apr 27, 2008 at 11:40:43 pm

    and sorry for wanting the coach of my favorite team to have some BALLS haha…he supported that trade just as much as Cuban did and everyone knows it

  41. By FreeDirk on Apr 27, 2008 at 11:41:17 pm

    drew,

    Jesus Christ, man. You’re a breath of fresh air.

    And ihatekidd,

    The last great, productive point guard this franchise had was Steve Nash. Mark Cuban f**ked that one up. Since then, the franchise has been scrambling to fill that hole, and has never been able to. The answer damn sure wasn’t Devin Harris, nor was it Kidd. Get a hold of yourself.

  42. By drew on Apr 27, 2008 at 11:42:49 pm

    tani,

    All I read was blah blah blah.. suck… blah blah blah.. sucks. Perhaps you should come and have your say when you’re comments are a little more constructive criticism. Clearly you are too emotional to think rationally of why this team lost tonight.

  43. By drew on Apr 27, 2008 at 11:45:44 pm

    I have the feeling I would not want to meet a lot of the people who post on this site. The thought of looking at them wrong, you might end up dead. Fan rage like road rage makes you do stupid things. Get a grip, yeah I’m pissed but like I said before, it’s a game, entertainment. It’s not like it’s the end of the world.

  44. By tani on Apr 27, 2008 at 11:46:49 pm

    drew,
    since you know how team sports works, have you seen the Utah Jazz play? Sloan has a system my friend. They have always had a rotation and know their roles. Sloan has managed to get under talented teams to the playoffs because of his system and dedication. The Mavs don’t have a system, neither a rotation. They don’t know how to play basketball and Avery changes his rotation every game because he doesn’t know what to do.

  45. By mrtwister on Apr 27, 2008 at 11:47:19 pm

    Gee Drew, you sound like the emotional one. Maybe it’s time you went and sucked on a few J’s with Josh?

    By the way, please do explain how a team sport works. You seem to be so insightful and always right, I would love to hear your take on the simplistics of such a complex system.

  46. By FreeDirk on Apr 27, 2008 at 11:47:30 pm

    Our best hope is to keep Avery, Dirk, Bass, and JET, and see what kind of wheeling and dealing we can do.

    I wish we could get rid of Cuban, but, uh, yeah…so, those are our options.

    There is no suitable replacement out there for Avery, whether you like it or not. Getting rid of Avery will only set us back even further, anyway. If you think that’s not true, then your knowledge of the game is limited, at best. Period.

  47. By ihatekidd on Apr 27, 2008 at 11:47:55 pm

    okay my bad guys I guess Devin Harris (as a young PG) didn’t outplay Tony Parker, kill the Spurs with his quickness, and lead the Mavs past the SA 2 years ago…I guess he didn’t continue to do the same thing and lead them to 67 wins the next season..I must have been watching the wrong Dallas Mavericks lol

  48. By drew on Apr 27, 2008 at 11:48:09 pm

    I want the Mavs to go far every season but after the Kidd trade, I alread put in my mind it’ll have to wait. Anyone who really thought a championship was going to occur as the 7th seed after we lost to all the top teams above .500 and switching our quarterback during mid season is smoking more dope than Josh Howard.

  49. By ihatekidd on Apr 27, 2008 at 11:50:29 pm

    ^^ haha I can agree on that

  50. By FreeDirk on Apr 27, 2008 at 11:51:59 pm

    Here’s a point I’d like to bring up about the Utah Jazz organization.

    They never expected Karl Malone to continue the franchise’s forward motion without John Stockton. Cuban lets go of the best PG in the game, and Dirk is suddenly expected to keep things progressing, and - remarkably - he did it. Better than anyone else in this league could have or has, if you ask me.

  51. By drew on Apr 27, 2008 at 11:52:34 pm

    Me emotional? Nah, I still have my panties on unlike some other so called fans who speak from their ass rather than from their head.

    All I want out of this series now is for the Mavs to beat the Hornets on their turf. Rebuild the team next year with their new point guard, cheer them on next year and see what turns out.

  52. By Kirk on Apr 27, 2008 at 11:52:54 pm

    Well, Drew’s right, its not the end of the world. But its still Sunday night and having to go to work for the week after starting the week with a crushing defeat is rough.

    I’m a huge fan of J-Ho’s 18% shooting percentage for the night.

  53. By georgia on Apr 27, 2008 at 11:53:00 pm

    wow, this blew me away.

    What in the world is Stack, George and little mini-meJJ doing out there??? Our starters had a 10 pt lead……..and you start your substituting already?? This is the playoffs…..not practice. One time there, you had all subs except Dirk….what do you expect to happen??

    FOR ONCE…..leave the starters in til we get far enough ahead to get a breather.
    You need to get a book on coaching and read it.

  54. By Greg on Apr 27, 2008 at 11:55:49 pm

    FreeDirk, I do not tolerate any personal attacks on other posters. Do not do it again.

  55. By drew on Apr 27, 2008 at 11:56:05 pm

    Yeah, honestly yeah Sloan is a good coach. He had two HOF for how many years and never won a championship? I mean, if most of the people had their way on this site, he would have been fired a long time ago. I guess he kept his job cause the Utah Jazz owners realize that they should or already have invested time and money in him, keeping their faith with him as their coach. I’m pulling for them since the Mavs aren’t going to make it cause I can’t stand seeing the Lakers, Spurs or Celtics add to their ring tally.

  56. By Renee on Apr 27, 2008 at 11:59:18 pm

    seriously it’s beyond me how people can still defend avery. you guys must be on his freakin payroll or something. he’s the main reason we lost this game. we had all the mometum in the beginning until he put that retarded line up in. as soon as stackhouse stepped foot on the court we commence to cough up our lead. all the rhythm and chemistry we had before is gone and new orleans goes on a run. stackhouse shouldn’t be playing at all in this series nevertheless with josh the short bus chucker. i can’t for the life of me fathom why josh is allowed to heave and chuck up so many freaking shots when he’s been so god damn awful this series. in the first half he shot more shots than dirk and terry. completely and utterly unacceptable. as the coach avery has to correct that. tell that idiot to stop chucking and bench him if he won’t.

    avery ruined our momentum. we opened the door for new orleans and this team was too mentally fragile to come back from that. (also the refs sucked also)

  57. By ihatekidd on Apr 27, 2008 at 11:59:56 pm

    maybe they’ll get some steals in the draft and come back young and refreshed…this roster they have now is way too old, all these old vets need 2 go b/c they’re basically just taking up space and salary cap (except Stack he deserves to stay)

  58. By drew on Apr 28, 2008 at 12:03:12 am

    Renee,

    No, I don’t agree. When your team stops attacking the basket and only shoots 35%, you lose the game. After the half, Avery even mentioned they needed to continue to attack the basket, seems they didn’t follow through as a team. They win or score when they attack, not miss shots outside the perimeter.

  59. By drew on Apr 28, 2008 at 12:24:47 am

    As for JJ showing up, I was even like WTF but then again, perhaps it’s Avery setting an example for the guys who should be out there. Never know what’s really going on as a coach and player. I grew up with an uncle that was a coach, who won state championships. It is very complex to coach a basketball team on any level. Knowing some of the decisions they make might make one in utter awe but usually at least from my uncle, there’s always some logical reason behind it.

  60. By FreeDirk on Apr 28, 2008 at 12:33:09 am

    drew,

    My dad and all his friends were coaches, so I grew up around it. You’re absolutely right. There is no way that anyone who isn’t in the locker rooms, in the huddles, etc., can really know what’s going on within the complex workings of a basketball team.

  61. By Will on Apr 28, 2008 at 2:31:00 am

    I understand we don’t know the internal dynamic of the team. I do understand that, for the most part, we went with a 7-man rotation in Game 3. I do understand that we had built a 9-point lead using the same 7 players to start this game. At that point, in comes Stack, and more ridiculously Barea, and the lead and momentum were lost for good. When Devin Harris got injured and we played Barea at the point, the coaches, owner, etc. all determined that Barea was not able to contribute. Then, they inserted him into a hotly contested playoff game. That is unacceptable. He hadn’t played since March 10th, and that was garbage time against the Knicks. This was a panic move, at a time when everything was moving our direction. If he did that to start Game 3 or something, it would have made more sense as a spark. To do it after winning Game 3 and then taking control of Game 4 is just dumb.

  62. By drew on Apr 28, 2008 at 7:13:17 am

    Will,

    You have to also understand that only two players were really scoring when we have that lead. With a lead early in the game is when you rest some players, the starters. Building huge leads does nothing, it only wears out the starters and we’ve all seen the Mavs blow some of the biggest leads because they left the starters in when they should have been resting so they can last for the remainder of the game.

    Stack and Howard are in a slump and it’s the worst timing but the only way to get out of a slump is to keep shooting. But I do agree Stack shouldn’t be playing as often or long if he’s still not 100% physically, but his head is out of the game as well.

  63. By b on Apr 28, 2008 at 9:01:12 am

    Enough of the Josh Howard/marijuana comments already! He only ANNOUNCED that he smokes grass last week, he didn’t just start smoking it. He likely has since he was a teenager. He certainly isn’t playing well, but it’s ridiculous to blame it on his off-season habits.

  64. By drew on Apr 28, 2008 at 9:08:36 am

    b,

    Right on and who cares. The dope isn’t making him play worst, he’s making himself play worse. They do have random tests throughout the season. And I’m willing to bet half of the NBA smokes or does some type of drug during the off season, Howard was just dumb enough to bring it to the public. So it’s just dumb for people to make such claims when they probably don’t know 90% of what’s going on with the organization.

    NBA is a business, most businesses keep their business to themselves and release a small amount to the public.

  65. By FreeDirk on Apr 28, 2008 at 10:46:59 am

    Exactly. People are acting like he all of a sudden started smoking pot in the latter half of this season, and that’s why he’s shooting poorly. Ridiculous. People get so fired up with their emotions, they don’t stop to think about their conclusions before voicing them.

    I love Josh, but I gotta be honest: I wanted to think that he was in a slump, and maybe that’s still true, but it looks an awful lot like he’s tanking games out there. I REALLY hope I’m wrong about that.

    It was NOT the insertion of JJ Barea and Stackhouse that lost this game for us, y’all. Correlation does not equal causation. What lost us this game was the fact that we didn’t have anyone but Dirk, JET, and (to a lesser degree) Bass who could provide any scoring for us. Period. The greatest coach in the NBA couldn’t have done anything with that roster last night. You guys expect nothing short of magic, and it just ain’t gonna happen.

  66. By Spurred1 on Apr 28, 2008 at 1:06:35 pm

    FreeDirk,
    You’ve mentioned a couple of times that Josh Howard looks like he’s tanking. But why would he do that? Nothing good will come of it.

  67. By selke99 on Apr 28, 2008 at 1:27:50 pm

    Will, you hit it right on the head. When JJB was not getting the job done at starting PG when Harris was injured, Avery put JET at starting PG. Doesn’t make sense AT ALL to put JJB in a playoff series that you are losing when he hasn’t seen quality (not garbage) time in OVER A MONTH. I’ve always stated that the Kidd trade masked our true need, a reliable backup PG. If we could have picked up Lue earlier to back up Harris, we would have been in better shape.

    Drew, you mentioned that JJB scored at the end. That was all during garbage time when the game was out of reach with the scrubs. The facts were when he came in, Mavs up by 7. When he leaves only 1:37 later, NO on 7-0 run WITH BACKUPS!! Speaks for itself.

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