Avery wants more from Mavs
Coach not impressed with stumbles on road during stretch run
11:39 PM CST on Wednesday, March 29, 2006
By EDDIE SEFKO / The Dallas Morning News
CLEVELAND – Healthy or not – and the Mavericks will be closer to full strength Friday night at Orlando – coach Avery Johnson is none too pleased with the way his team is treating the most important time of the season.
He equated it Wednesday to a long-distance race – one the Mavericks aren't handling well at the end.
"You're in the New York Marathon, how many miles is that, 26.2 miles?" Johnson said. "After the 20th mile, your body doesn't feel like it felt when you started, right? It requires even more toughness, fight and perseverance, because those last six miles are going to be tougher than the first 20."
Point made. The Mavericks are not running their best race as the season strides into the final 10 games. Tuesday night's loss at Detroit drove home several issues that the Mavericks must address as they continue to get injured players back. Mainly, they must pay closer attention to details at the defensive end of the court.
"There were one or two things that really disturbed me about that game that I won't get into," Johnson said. "I'm just trying to figure out if they really understand this next level that we need to go to."
The Mavericks were outscored 11-2 in the final four-plus minutes against Detroit, fumbling away a game that was there for the taking.
Howard to return: Josh Howard said before Wednesday's game at Cleveland that he would be back in uniform Friday at Orlando.
"I'm going to give it a shot, I think," he said.
Johnson reiterated that the Mavericks have a definite timetable for bringing back Howard, Adrian Griffin and Devin Harris.
"And," Johnson said, "somebody's definite time to return will be the next game."
When they come back, Johnson expects great things.
"I'm hoping that my injured guys are as rested as anybody in the NBA," he said. "I'm hoping they can really show that on the defensive end, because they've been watching and seeing how we've been getting burned."
Diop drops by: DeSagana Diop played four seasons in Cleveland and saw a lot of old friends and familiar faces in his first trip to Quicken Loans Arena as a Maverick.
He also got a smattering of boos when he was introduced with the Mavericks' starting lineup.
"I tried to do the best I could when I was here," he said. "It wasn't like I was a bad guy. Sometimes, you just have to move on."
No big deal: San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich told reporters before the Spurs beat the Los Angeles Clippers on Tuesday night that fans should not be surprised that the Mavericks and Spurs are headed for another photo finish.
"Everybody acts like this is a new deal," he said. "It's been like this for the last four, five years with Dallas. We have a race every year.
"The only thing different is they have that little traitor [Johnson] over there coaching for Dallas."
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