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kriD · 03-13-2006, 05:43 AM

MAVERICKS NOTES

Injuries confounding Mavs

By ART GARCIA
Star-Telegram Staff Writer

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Glancing over to the locker room, Mavericks coach Avery Johnson put the team's injury woes in perspective.

"It's an infirmary in there right now," he said.

The short-handed Mavs finished their three-game road trip with Sunday night's 85-80 loss to Sacramento at Arco Arena, and with Devin Harris, Adrian Griffin, Josh Howard and Keith Van Horn in sick bay.

Harris aggravated his strained left quadriceps, and Griffin strained his left hamstring in Saturday's win at Utah. Howard's tender left hamstring flared up in the first half against the Kings, and he left the game and didn't return.

Harris could be out for an extended period. He'll have an MRI today in Dallas. Howard will be evaluated today; Griffin is day-to-day; and Van Horn (sprained knee ligament) is out indefinitely.

Howard had missed the four games before starting and playing 13 minutes against Sacramento. The Mavs made a point of not rushing Howard back.

A similar approach was taken with Harris, who has missed four games with the thigh problem. He played two games without incident, logging more than 30 minutes in two games against Portland last week.

The quad strain returned early against the Jazz and, after trying to play through it, Harris checked out with 5:56 left in the first period. He was still walking gingerly Sunday.

Johnson wondered if anything could have been done differently with Harris' treatment.

"I guess it wasn't cautious enough," Johnson said. "We don't know where we went wrong. We thought the rehab was solid."

Stiff competition

Facing teams in the playoff hunt, such as Sacramento and Utah over the weekend, offer the kinds of challenges for the Mavs that the Portlands of the league just cannot.

"I love it," Avery Johnson said. "I wish we can play the last 20 games like this, because I really want to try going into the playoffs playing at a high level. And you can't play at a high level when you're playing against teams that don't really have anything to play for."

Both the Kings and Jazz battled Dallas for 48 minutes with playoff-type intensity.

"When you're playing against teams like this, the physicality is a lot higher, which I like," Johnson said. "I like it this way, because even if it can expose certain things about us that we need to continue to improve on, that's even better."

Bracket busters

Jason Terry (Arizona) and Devin Harris (Wisconsin) have a healthy wager on the NCAA Tournament matchup between their schools.

Adrian Griffin has mixed emotions on the Wichita State-Seton Hall game. "I'm from Wichita, but I have to pull for Seton Hall," his school, he said.

03-13-2006, 05:43 AM	#6
kriD Platinum Member Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Germany Posts: 2,039	MAVERICKS NOTES Injuries confounding Mavs By ART GARCIA Star-Telegram Staff Writer SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Glancing over to the locker room, Mavericks coach Avery Johnson put the team's injury woes in perspective. "It's an infirmary in there right now," he said. The short-handed Mavs finished their three-game road trip with Sunday night's 85-80 loss to Sacramento at Arco Arena, and with Devin Harris, Adrian Griffin, Josh Howard and Keith Van Horn in sick bay. Harris aggravated his strained left quadriceps, and Griffin strained his left hamstring in Saturday's win at Utah. Howard's tender left hamstring flared up in the first half against the Kings, and he left the game and didn't return. Harris could be out for an extended period. He'll have an MRI today in Dallas. Howard will be evaluated today; Griffin is day-to-day; and Van Horn (sprained knee ligament) is out indefinitely. Howard had missed the four games before starting and playing 13 minutes against Sacramento. The Mavs made a point of not rushing Howard back. A similar approach was taken with Harris, who has missed four games with the thigh problem. He played two games without incident, logging more than 30 minutes in two games against Portland last week. The quad strain returned early against the Jazz and, after trying to play through it, Harris checked out with 5:56 left in the first period. He was still walking gingerly Sunday. Johnson wondered if anything could have been done differently with Harris' treatment. "I guess it wasn't cautious enough," Johnson said. "We don't know where we went wrong. We thought the rehab was solid." Stiff competition Facing teams in the playoff hunt, such as Sacramento and Utah over the weekend, offer the kinds of challenges for the Mavs that the Portlands of the league just cannot. "I love it," Avery Johnson said. "I wish we can play the last 20 games like this, because I really want to try going into the playoffs playing at a high level. And you can't play at a high level when you're playing against teams that don't really have anything to play for." Both the Kings and Jazz battled Dallas for 48 minutes with playoff-type intensity. "When you're playing against teams like this, the physicality is a lot higher, which I like," Johnson said. "I like it this way, because even if it can expose certain things about us that we need to continue to improve on, that's even better." Bracket busters Jason Terry (Arizona) and Devin Harris (Wisconsin) have a healthy wager on the NCAA Tournament matchup between their schools. Adrian Griffin has mixed emotions on the Wichita State-Seton Hall game. "I'm from Wichita, but I have to pull for Seton Hall," his school, he said.