[twistaeffect2004]

“It kept bleeding. I was playing with one eye. But I was able to see the ball to steal it,” said Howard, who was only 3-of-11 shooting. “As long as my eyeball wasn’t falling out or I was half dead, I was going to come back out there.”


God I love this.



And the Mavs completely destroyed the Jazz with the pick and roll. I thought the Jazz would be able to make some sort of adjustment at halftime, but they weren't able to do a thing. JJ Barea was able to penetrate all day long and he was making the correct pass and the boys were making the jumpshots. Guys were doing a great job all night long making that extra pass to the open man. The Mavs were also extremely aggressive on the defensive end. The help defense tonight was awesome as were defensive rotation. As great as the demolishing was of the Suns I thought they played the best all year last night both offensively and defensively. They did everything well.

Getting back to Josh real quick though. This guy has picked it up significantly. He's playing that style of basketball which made him an all star a couple years back. He's playing good defense, excellent help defense. He's really getting his hands dirty and crashing the boards hard, and I personally believe that kind of play can be contagious. It makes other guys want to bust their butt just as much. I've been as down on Josh as anybody, and I have to admit I wanted him traded, I thought they were at the point of no return with him. But I got to say, we need Josh Howard on this team if we're going to win anything, it's that simple. If he continues to play like this, with the heart and determination then this team can be a very, very tough out in the playoffs.