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kriD · 12-28-2006, 05:14 AM

Mavs have cleared early-season hurdle

05:45 PM CST on Wednesday, December 27, 2006

The Mavericks are into the second trimester of the season and, accordingly, their win total is starting to look a little bloated.

They have the best record in the league, at least until Phoenix comes in Thursday night for a game that I predict will end the Mavs' winning streak.

But the key now is that the Mavericks have gotten past a potentially problematic early portion of the season.

Admit it. When they were 0-4, you thought there was a chance that this team might have been content to make its one trip to the NBA Finals, get beat and blend back into the wallpaper.

I thought the same thing was possible. NBA coaches will tell you that it's always a short trip between being really good and losing all faith in a system and having things go haywire. They made it past that crossroads.

Now, it's a matter of taking care of business during the meat of the season, which they have become very good at doing.

Eddie Sefko

MAVERICKS Q&A

Q: OK, I will admit I wasn't man enough to bring this up when they won 12 in a row. But now I have grown some genuine NBA leather … uh, well, you get the idea. And I have two problems with this team. One, Devin Harris can't play. He's a point guard who can neither dribble nor shoot. I think Moe Ager will be a better alternative by the end of the season.

Second, Josh Howard and Dirk Nowitzki seem to have a problem with each other. It's either a personality conflict or, as I suspect, Howard wants to be "the man." He rarely makes eye contact with Dirk and even more rarely passes the ball to him late on the shot clock. Maybe we can trade Howard and Harris for Carlos Boozer and Deron Williams. Am I right?

Dean B.

SEFKO: You had me right up until the trade for Boozer and Williams. First of all, Utah would never do that deal. Deron Williams might end up being an All-Star point guard for years. Not sure you can say that about Harris. And Boozer finally has his act together.

As for your concerns, Harris is doing a solid job as a functional starter on a team that is on pace to win 60-plus games. Hard to find fault with that. He even makes a shot once in a while. Is he a pure point guard? No. But he's not a bad bus driver for a team that has plenty of score-first passengers.

In regard to Dirk and Howard, I would contend that it's not a bad thing to have more than one guy who wants to be "the man." Howard has played like it lately and that's not a bad thing. Everybody on this team knows that when it gets to the nitty-gritty, Nowitzki is going to get the chance to make plays.

And it's a lot easier for Howard or anybody else to try to be studly in Game 28 or 38 than it is Game 7 of a playoff series. Just be glad Nowitzki is getting some legitimate help during the grind of the season.

• • •

Q: I read somewhere that the Mavericks are searching for a shooter. Any truth?

SEFKO: Of course there is. Every good team is always looking for another shooter because there aren't enough good ones in the league to go around. San Antonio is looking for help, too. And Miami, for that matter.

There's nothing wrong with keeping your eyes and ears open for a player who can help you. But the Mavericks are not shopping any of their players at the moment, as best I can tell.

• • •

Q: Why didn't the Mavericks trade Stackhouse, Harris and Croshere for Iverson?

Rob, Plano, Texas

SEFKO: Because they have brains. While people like D-Moore might actually think it would be a fun experiment to get Allen Iverson into a Mavericks' uniform alongside Dirk and Howard, this team is too far advanced to be wasting time with experiments.

And there's a reason why Iverson has made so many teammates mad in the past. He wants to score and be the superstar. That's Dirk's job on this team.

• • •

Q: When we don't get production from our backcourt, we lose. It really looks as simple as that. In the seven losses, the starters in the backcourt have averaged 18 points and shot 34 percent. We won the West last year, but it was real close. And the other teams look a lot stronger this year. Any thoughts?

Michael B.

SEFKO: My thought is we need you on our research team at the office to do charts and graphics. M.B. did a thorough chart along with his question chronicling the starting guards in the losses. Very impressive.

But what this also points out is that the guards have been pretty solid in 21 of 28 games (75 percent). And if you get that kind of consistency, you win 60 games, get the first or second seed and love life deep into the playoffs.

This team is deep and can withstand off nights by certain players. Detroit has the same luxury when Tayshaun Prince and Rasheed Wallace go south for games at a time. San Antonio has two starters that nobody even has to guard except maybe on the 3-point line (Bowen and the center du jour).

• • •

Q: Eddie, you're looking pretty slim lately. It's nice for a maybe-aspiring sports journalist to see that it's possible to stay in such great shape. For some reason, the Mavericks don't look right. The defense is back to average. Stack is settling too much. Jet won't drive. Even Devin doesn't seem like he wants to get laid out at the rim anymore. Will it come together soon?

SEFKO: Thanks for those kind words. You know, the longer I stand next to D-Moore, the thinner I look.

Actually, this being the season of good cheer, I have to say something nice about my partner, so I will:

He has better-looking friends than I do.

And have patience. The Mavericks are rounding into a better form. Either that or they are becoming like most other championship teams: a bit boring.

• • •

Q: What's up with Marquis Daniels in Indy? It's like he's a non-event. And is Big Ed big because he's big, or because D-Moore is small?

John, Clearwater, Fla.

SEFKO: Most important, I am big. And I mean big, in every sense of the word. My stature is irrefutable. And that's all I'll say about that since I'm trying to be nice during the Christmas season.

As for Daniels, he was a non-event here during his last season because he was a square peg that didn't fit into Avery Johnson's round holes.

Wait, that didn't sound right.

Just suffice it that Daniels is the kind of player who doesn't fit into any single position and doesn't play well enough at any single area to be consistent for his team. I like his game. Always did.

And if he's your sixth or seventh man, you might be a pretty good team.

• • •

Q: When Dirk gets hurt and does not finish a game, which happened in Seattle last week, does that game count against his averages? I realize this question involves math, so I'm not sure either of you are qualified to answer.

Randy, Spicewood, Texas

SEFKO: Hey, I scored higher in math on my SAT than I did on verbal, which is probably why I never win any writing awards.

When any player gets into the box score, even if it's just for a few seconds at the end of the game, that counts as a game played. An old joke in the NBA is about guys who had 100 trillion.

That would be 1 minute played, followed by 14 zeroes for what they accumulated in each statistical category on the final box. This is what is known as an average-killer.

• • •

Q: Why have the Mavs been listed fourth in the standings when they have the third-best record? I thought they fixed that this year.

Charles A., Gainesville, Texas

SEFKO: We did. There were a few weeks when we had not updated our standings in the paper to reflect the new seeding process. It since has been corrected and, if things proceed as they are now, the Mavs and Spurs will finish 1-2 but won't have to worry about meeting until the conference finals.

• • •

Q: Can you explain how player minutes are calculated? How is it broken down when partial minutes are played?

Sam M.

SEFKO: If a player plays 1 second, he gets credit for a full minute in the box score that you see in some newspapers. The DMN, like many other papers, now carries the box scores with minutes and seconds under the playing time category. That's really the only way to make it add up to 240 minutes for a regulation game. If you have three guys come in for the final 40 seconds of the game, they all three would get 1 minute under the old system, even though they only combined for 2 minutes of playing time.

I'm sorry that's so confusing. I don't even understand what I just wrote. So I'll pass that question on to D-Moore next week for some clarification.

12-28-2006, 05:14 AM	#19
kriD Platinum Member Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Germany Posts: 2,039	Mavs have cleared early-season hurdle 05:45 PM CST on Wednesday, December 27, 2006 The Mavericks are into the second trimester of the season and, accordingly, their win total is starting to look a little bloated. They have the best record in the league, at least until Phoenix comes in Thursday night for a game that I predict will end the Mavs' winning streak. But the key now is that the Mavericks have gotten past a potentially problematic early portion of the season. Admit it. When they were 0-4, you thought there was a chance that this team might have been content to make its one trip to the NBA Finals, get beat and blend back into the wallpaper. I thought the same thing was possible. NBA coaches will tell you that it's always a short trip between being really good and losing all faith in a system and having things go haywire. They made it past that crossroads. Now, it's a matter of taking care of business during the meat of the season, which they have become very good at doing. Eddie Sefko MAVERICKS Q&A Q: OK, I will admit I wasn't man enough to bring this up when they won 12 in a row. But now I have grown some genuine NBA leather … uh, well, you get the idea. And I have two problems with this team. One, Devin Harris can't play. He's a point guard who can neither dribble nor shoot. I think Moe Ager will be a better alternative by the end of the season. Second, Josh Howard and Dirk Nowitzki seem to have a problem with each other. It's either a personality conflict or, as I suspect, Howard wants to be "the man." He rarely makes eye contact with Dirk and even more rarely passes the ball to him late on the shot clock. Maybe we can trade Howard and Harris for Carlos Boozer and Deron Williams. Am I right? Dean B. SEFKO: You had me right up until the trade for Boozer and Williams. First of all, Utah would never do that deal. Deron Williams might end up being an All-Star point guard for years. Not sure you can say that about Harris. And Boozer finally has his act together. As for your concerns, Harris is doing a solid job as a functional starter on a team that is on pace to win 60-plus games. Hard to find fault with that. He even makes a shot once in a while. Is he a pure point guard? No. But he's not a bad bus driver for a team that has plenty of score-first passengers. In regard to Dirk and Howard, I would contend that it's not a bad thing to have more than one guy who wants to be "the man." Howard has played like it lately and that's not a bad thing. Everybody on this team knows that when it gets to the nitty-gritty, Nowitzki is going to get the chance to make plays. And it's a lot easier for Howard or anybody else to try to be studly in Game 28 or 38 than it is Game 7 of a playoff series. Just be glad Nowitzki is getting some legitimate help during the grind of the season. • • • Q: I read somewhere that the Mavericks are searching for a shooter. Any truth? SEFKO: Of course there is. Every good team is always looking for another shooter because there aren't enough good ones in the league to go around. San Antonio is looking for help, too. And Miami, for that matter. There's nothing wrong with keeping your eyes and ears open for a player who can help you. But the Mavericks are not shopping any of their players at the moment, as best I can tell. • • • Q: Why didn't the Mavericks trade Stackhouse, Harris and Croshere for Iverson? Rob, Plano, Texas SEFKO: Because they have brains. While people like D-Moore might actually think it would be a fun experiment to get Allen Iverson into a Mavericks' uniform alongside Dirk and Howard, this team is too far advanced to be wasting time with experiments. And there's a reason why Iverson has made so many teammates mad in the past. He wants to score and be the superstar. That's Dirk's job on this team. • • • Q: When we don't get production from our backcourt, we lose. It really looks as simple as that. In the seven losses, the starters in the backcourt have averaged 18 points and shot 34 percent. We won the West last year, but it was real close. And the other teams look a lot stronger this year. Any thoughts? Michael B. SEFKO: My thought is we need you on our research team at the office to do charts and graphics. M.B. did a thorough chart along with his question chronicling the starting guards in the losses. Very impressive. But what this also points out is that the guards have been pretty solid in 21 of 28 games (75 percent). And if you get that kind of consistency, you win 60 games, get the first or second seed and love life deep into the playoffs. This team is deep and can withstand off nights by certain players. Detroit has the same luxury when Tayshaun Prince and Rasheed Wallace go south for games at a time. San Antonio has two starters that nobody even has to guard except maybe on the 3-point line (Bowen and the center du jour). • • • Q: Eddie, you're looking pretty slim lately. It's nice for a maybe-aspiring sports journalist to see that it's possible to stay in such great shape. For some reason, the Mavericks don't look right. The defense is back to average. Stack is settling too much. Jet won't drive. Even Devin doesn't seem like he wants to get laid out at the rim anymore. Will it come together soon? SEFKO: Thanks for those kind words. You know, the longer I stand next to D-Moore, the thinner I look. Actually, this being the season of good cheer, I have to say something nice about my partner, so I will: He has better-looking friends than I do. And have patience. The Mavericks are rounding into a better form. Either that or they are becoming like most other championship teams: a bit boring. • • • Q: What's up with Marquis Daniels in Indy? It's like he's a non-event. And is Big Ed big because he's big, or because D-Moore is small? John, Clearwater, Fla. SEFKO: Most important, I am big. And I mean big, in every sense of the word. My stature is irrefutable. And that's all I'll say about that since I'm trying to be nice during the Christmas season. As for Daniels, he was a non-event here during his last season because he was a square peg that didn't fit into Avery Johnson's round holes. Wait, that didn't sound right. Just suffice it that Daniels is the kind of player who doesn't fit into any single position and doesn't play well enough at any single area to be consistent for his team. I like his game. Always did. And if he's your sixth or seventh man, you might be a pretty good team. • • • Q: When Dirk gets hurt and does not finish a game, which happened in Seattle last week, does that game count against his averages? I realize this question involves math, so I'm not sure either of you are qualified to answer. Randy, Spicewood, Texas SEFKO: Hey, I scored higher in math on my SAT than I did on verbal, which is probably why I never win any writing awards. When any player gets into the box score, even if it's just for a few seconds at the end of the game, that counts as a game played. An old joke in the NBA is about guys who had 100 trillion. That would be 1 minute played, followed by 14 zeroes for what they accumulated in each statistical category on the final box. This is what is known as an average-killer. • • • Q: Why have the Mavs been listed fourth in the standings when they have the third-best record? I thought they fixed that this year. Charles A., Gainesville, Texas SEFKO: We did. There were a few weeks when we had not updated our standings in the paper to reflect the new seeding process. It since has been corrected and, if things proceed as they are now, the Mavs and Spurs will finish 1-2 but won't have to worry about meeting until the conference finals. • • • Q: Can you explain how player minutes are calculated? How is it broken down when partial minutes are played? Sam M. SEFKO: If a player plays 1 second, he gets credit for a full minute in the box score that you see in some newspapers. The DMN, like many other papers, now carries the box scores with minutes and seconds under the playing time category. That's really the only way to make it add up to 240 minutes for a regulation game. If you have three guys come in for the final 40 seconds of the game, they all three would get 1 minute under the old system, even though they only combined for 2 minutes of playing time. I'm sorry that's so confusing. I don't even understand what I just wrote. So I'll pass that question on to D-Moore next week for some clarification.