Mavs swear off this road trip
By DWAIN PRICE
STAR-TELEGRAM STAFF WRITER
ORLANDO, Fla. -- Mavericks coach Avery Johnson punctuated the end of a frustrating road trip Friday with a profanity-laced outburst that was overheard in the team's locker room.
After the Mavs suffered their third straight loss, falling to the Orlando Magic 108-99, media members were interviewing guard Jerry Stackhouse when Johnson was heard, behind closed doors, shouting a string of expletive-laced words.
Asked on his way to the team bus about his outburst, Johnson said: "No comment."
Johnson's blowup was the culmination of a 1-3 road trip for the Mavs, including losing three in a row for the first time since Johnson became the team's coach late last season.
The outburst by Johnson appeared to shock the players who were in the locker room at the time.
"He's got a good team, and when you see your team not playing as well as it should be, everybody's sick right now," said point guard Jason Terry, who scored 23 points. "Not just him. We're all in this together. We've got to end this right now."
Dirk Nowitzki, who finished with 38 points and 15 rebounds, was in another part of the dressing room and said he didn't hear Johnson shouting.
"I was in the other room, so I don't really know what happened," Nowitzki said.
"I'm sure I'll find out. But it's just a tough time for all of us. I think it's more about getting the best out of everybody and challenging everybody in all aspects of the game."
The Magic controlled the tempo, leading 88-70 early in the fourth period. The Mavs scrambled to within 97-92, but poor execution once more in crunch time sent them back to Dallas with a loss.
"Their point guards destroyed us," Johnson said in his postgame assessment. "We again made silly mistakes down the stretch, and that's something that we have to keep working on."
Magic point guard Jameer Nelson was 10-of-15 from the field and scored 27 points.
"I just had no presence defensively," Terry said. "Nelson pretty much got whatever he wanted when he wanted."
The loss overshadowed the return of Josh Howard, who played 27 minutes and finished with 10 points and five rebounds.
Howard had missed 13 of the previous 14 games with a strained left hamstring.
Meanwhile, Johnson went into the game already upset that the NBA suspended center DJ Mbenga earlier Friday from the game against the Magic after he delivered a hard foul on Cleveland's LeBron James on Wednesday.
Johnson also received a technical foul late in the first quarter Friday.
The Mavericks (54-19) are 2 1/2 games behind San Antonio in the race for the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference. The Mavericks play host to Denver on Sunday.
|