Calling on Harris is brilliant
[By Kevin B. Blackistone / The Dallas Morning News]
SAN ANTONIO – One afternoon in the middle of the season, Avery Johnson was talking about the importance of a few of his players. Dirk Nowitzki. Josh Howard. Jerry Stackhouse.
But he spent the most time talking about how excited he was about what Devin Harris, the second-year guard who was still learning the NBA game, could bring: speed. But at the time, he'd trusted Harris to start only a couple of games.
So it was a bit of a shock Tuesday night to see Harris walk onto the court with the rest of the Mavericks' starters to begin Game 2 against the Spurs. It even suggested Johnson was panicking, down one win to none to the defending champions. That hardly seemed to suggest a lineup change.
And didn't we just see Dave Tippett do the same thing with the Stars' lines in Game 2 of what turned out to be a disastrous Stanley Cup playoff series against Colorado?
But this is why Johnson was just bestowed with the coach of the year award in his first full season at the helm. This is why he's put together the most remarkable start for any coach in the history of the NBA.
Johnson's insertion of Harris, who missed much of the last third of the season with an injury, into the starting lineup took advantage of the one area where the Mavericks eked out an edge in what was a remarkably evenly played Game 1: transition baskets.
That was why through much of what was a loss in Game 1 for the Mavericks, Johnson was skipping up and down the sidelines, winding his right arm through the air as if he were a human windmill. He wanted his younger team to impose its faster legs on a more aged and slower Spurs bunch.
The Mavericks managed to do so for most of the first half. Then the Spurs slowed everything down.
That the Spurs couldn't slow the Mavericks on Tuesday, getting outscored 113-91 in the end, was because Harris wouldn't let them.
Harris jump-started the offense and the Spurs never could catch up. It was like watching the proverbial race between the tortoise and the hare, except it was the hare that had the guile, too.
Harris was but a blur. For the Spurs' quick-as-lightning All-Star guard Tony Parker, he must have felt as if he were playing against himself.
"It was brilliant," Adrian Griffin said of his coach's decision to start Harris in his place. "I said from day one that this coaching staff is great at making adjustments, and that's what the playoffs are all about. It's not about egos. I want to win.
"And we know what Devin can do. We were just waiting until he got back to 100 percent. He just puts so much pressure on the defense. He's not just fast, he's really fast."
Harris can't shoot, yet. But it doesn't matter much, when he can go around and by other players as if they were mere telephone poles.
Most of his 20 points came on drives to the basket. Some were from the right side. Others were from the left, where he put the ball up with his right.
More remarkable: Harris didn't have a turnover.
Del Harris said no one on the staff raised an eyebrow when Johnson said Devin Harris would start.
"We had some pretty good statistical evidence from Mark [Cuban's] people to back up the decision," Del Harris said.
"We felt like we at least needed a 95-point game to win. They're difficult to beat in an 80-point game. We can push the ball better with Devin because he gives us two guards who can really get out and run."
Harris out-Parkered Parker. This is but another reason Johnson was tagged with the nickname "Little General." He is fearless. He isn't afraid to stick his sword into the air and yell, "Charge!"
"It takes a lot of courage," Cuban said, "for Coach Johnson to say, 'You know what? We're going to put a second-year player in there.' "
But just about everything Johnson's decided to do this season has worked out like a charm.
He turned Erick Dampier into a very serviceable player by bringing him off the bench to play mostly against second-tier centers. He improved his team's defense and made the offense more efficient by employing Griffin with the starting five for most of the season when Griffin was healthy.
Now he's gone back to making the most of Jason Terry's talents, as a scoring guard, by taking the point guard responsibilities from him and handing them to Harris and bringing Griffin off the bench. And clearly he surprised his old mentor, Gregg Popovich, in doing so.
Maybe we should re-nickname Johnson the Little Genius, instead.
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