Mavs match record

[kriD]

Mavs match record

By ART GARCIA

DALLAS -- Returning to their most successful lineup, the Mavericks found success and moved within a victory of being the most successful regular-season team in franchise history.

Taking on a team fighting for its playoff life, the Mavs used Sunday night's playoff tuneup to overpower Utah 111-95 before a sellout crowd of 19,961 at American Airlines Center.

The Mavs (60-21) will probably enter the postseason this weekend as the Western Conference's fourth seed barring a collapse by San Antonio, which needs only one victory or a Mavs loss to clinch the Southwest Division and No. 1 seed.

The Mavs snapped a two-game losing streak and tied the franchise record for wins set in 2002-03. A record is there for the taking in Wednesday's regular-season finale at home against the Los Angeles Clippers, but the next two days are crucial for reasons other than victory No. 61.

The plan to get Devin Harris into the last three games hit a snag, with the backup point guard sitting out with soreness in his quadriceps. Marquis Daniels sat out the second half with a sore hamstring.

Harris is expected to play Wednesday, while Daniels wasn't sure if he would.

"I would like to be healthier, but right now we aren't," said Mavs coach Avery Johnson, a player on the 2002-03 team that went 60-22.

Johnson didn't downplay the significance of winning 60.

"What an exciting accomplishment for the team to tie the franchise record with 60 wins," he said. "We know we are here to try and win a championship, but tying the record, and I've been here for both of them, is a really special and unique deal, especially in the Western Conference."

Dirk Nowitzki and Adrian Griffin are the only two current Mavs who played on the last 60-win team.

"That's always a special season," said Nowitzki, who scored 22. "That's a lot of wins, especially in the Western Conference. Unfortunately, I've won 60 twice and been a four seed twice.

"It's a little unfortunate that San Antonio [could] beat us [for the No. 1 seed] both 60-win years, but that's how it goes."

Getting healthy, honing a playoff rotation and working on the "system" are the goals this week. Johnson did accomplish one key with his lineup against the Jazz.

For the first time since March 3, Johnson started Nowitzki, Jason Terry, Josh Howard, DeSagana Diop and Griffin. Not only is that lineup the most used this season, it's also 19-2.

No other starting combination has more than eight wins.

"It's been awhile," Terry said. "With us it doesn't matter. Whoever is out there is able to get the job done. It's our system."

The Jazz (40-40) had its five-game winning streak snapped and was eliminated from playoff contention. The eight teams in the West are set, with the final seedings being the only mystery.

Memphis (47-33) or the Clippers (46-34) are the candidates to face the Mavs as the fifth seed. The Grizzlies have the upper hand, but the two teams meet Tuesday in Memphis.

"I'm assuming if both teams stay the course," Johnson said, "whoever wins that game, we'll play."

[kriD]

Production coming from the supporting cast

By DWAIN PRICE
Star-Telegram Staff Writer

DALLAS - Jerry Stackhouse was back at his customary role Sunday night. So were Mavericks centers Erick Dampier and DeSagana Diop.

While Stackhouse was providing the Mavs with some offensive firepower off the bench during Sunday's 111-95 victory over the Utah Jazz, Dampier and Diop were providing the inside muscle needed to make a major impression in the playoffs.

Stackhouse scored 20 points in only 25 minutes, while Dampier and Diop combined for 18 points, 17 rebounds and two blocks. It was almost a perfect performance from three of the Mavs' key performers.

"We thought Damp and Stack set the tone for us coming off the bench," coach Avery Johnson said. "Stack was solid, Stack was energized, he was ready to play and he was right in his comfort zone tonight."

Stackhouse scored six points in the first quarter and added nine more in the second. Dampier, meanwhile, had eight points and six rebounds off the bench in the first quarter and finished with 13 points and 12 boards (seven offensive).

"In the first quarter when you look up and [Dampier has] eight points and six rebounds, it's going to be a good night for the Mavs," Stackhouse said. "A lot of what we do rests on those guys.

"When he and DeSagana got numbers like that early on, it normally bodes well for us."

It also bodes well for the Mavs when Stackhouse puts up big numbers. And he said it doesn't matter whether he's putting up those numbers as a starter or as a reserve.

"I always put it in Avery's court," Stackhouse said. "I trust him more than I've ever trusted probably any coach that I've ever played for other than Dean Smith.

"I know when it's that time he's going to call on me, and he trusts me to do what I do out on the basketball court. So whether it's starting or whether it's coming off the bench, we're all right."

A reserve most of this season, Stackhouse started the 10 games before he was placed on the inactive list Thursday at Phoenix. He said the extra rest gave him an extra bounce in his step against the Jazz.

Johnson marveled at Stackhouse's defensive work in helping to hold Utah's Matt Harping and Devin Brown to a combined 14 points on 4-of-14 shooting.

"Those are guys that are physical," Stackhouse said. "I think when you know you're playing physical guys, you want to try to match their physicality and their intensity from the start, and that's what we were able to do and that's what I was able to do early in the game."

[kriD]

Mavs quietly making some noise

[By Tim Cowlishaw / The Dallas Morning News]

The one thing Avery Johnson thinks his Mavericks lack may be the one thing that gives this team a chance to get to the NBA Finals for the first time.

The Mavericks won their 60th game Sunday for only the second time in franchise history. They have a true MVP candidate in Dirk Nowitzki for the first time in franchise history.

They just beat the defending champions in San Antonio, which is what they are going to have to do at least once in the second round to get where they want to go. The team is full of skill, full of confidence.

The team does not have a vocal leader.

Johnson lashed out at the players for their lack of internal leadership after a poor showing at Golden State last week. Now he should be glad they don't have one. If they did, someone might have stepped up to the media and said:

"Would you tell Avery to shut up? We're going to win 60 games despite a rash of injuries, Dirk's playing better than ever, Josh Howard's playing better than ever, we have an effective two-center situation for the first time ever, and this team plays harder night in and night out for him than it ever did for Nellie."

But no one said that. The Mavericks looked the other way and figured that was just Avery Johnson doing what Avery Johnson does, which is get more out of this team than maybe any other NBA coach gets out of his.

Johnson simply doesn't want his team to rest on its laurels until those laurels include an NBA title. And for once around here, finally, an NBA title is no pipe dream.

Even Johnson sounded excited after hitting the 60-win plateau.

"Our system is not this year where it's going to be in a year or two, but we're not worried with that right now," Johnson said. "We're trying to speed things along and pursue our big goals. We don't have a full 10 right now, but the guys we've got are really playing well."

The Mavericks will not have a healthy Devin Harris at the start of the first round, almost certainly against Memphis. That's OK. Get him ready in two weeks. That's the plan.

A healthy Harris able to play 20 to 24 minutes against Tony Parker gives the Mavericks a chance against San Antonio. A very good chance, to be honest.

The change to a more defensive mind-set is incomplete, but what Johnson has accomplished in pursuing that goal is remarkable. And these Mavericks are going to talk about defense throughout this playoff run.

But you know what's going to win it for them?

The offense supplied by Nowitzki, Josh Howard, Jason Terry and Jerry Stackhouse is going to be what it's all about. Nowitzki, Howard and Terry give Dallas three starters who shoot better than 40 percent from the beyond the arc.

That's what Hubie Brown would call "a tough guard."

Stackhouse is not a good 3-point shooter, but he can help in streaks and he gets to the basket. This team's offense still scares opponents far more than its commitment to defense.

Nowitzki can't get off his game and get frustrated the way he did a year ago. There's no sign that will happen.

He improved dramatically in his eighth season. At the home opener, Johnson told me Dirk was a 2 on a scale of 1 to 10 as a post player and that the Spurs' Tim Duncan was 10. Johnson said the Mavericks had to get Dirk up to a 5 to run an efficient offense.

After the club's 60th win, Johnson said Dirk had left 5 in the dust.

"He is almost an 8 right now," he said. "He has made tremendous strides, beyond what we had hoped for."

For Nowitzki, 27 points and nine rebounds and three assists and effort at the defensive end – that's leadership.

He tried it the other way, calling out Erick Dampier in the playoffs last year. That didn't work because Nowitzki was off his game, too.

Johnson will have to settle for the quiet watch-what-I-do leadership of Nowitzki, a little fire from Terry and Stackhouse and the too-often-overlooked steadying hand of Josh Howard.

Those are the things that can lead the Mavericks to someplace they have never been.

And then they can all take their turns shouting.

[aexchange]

hey krid, it doesn't get said enough, but thanks for posting all these articles.

much appreciated.

[orangedays]

Dirk...er...kriD and shaw-xx are our very own research team. Thanks alot guys!

[sike]

"Unfortunately, I've won 60 twice and been a four seed twice."
good point...

[MavsN06]

**A healthy Harris able to play 20 to 24 minutes against Tony Parker gives the Mavericks a chance against San Antonio. A very good chance, to be honest.**


Right on point. He will be key (Possible X factor) in the second round.