Mavs must escape past to move forward

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Mavs must escape past to move forward

[By David Moore / The Dallas Morning News]

PHOENIX – The Mavericks have made strides to become a more balanced team and to put their offensive past behind them. That's why it's hard to escape the irony.

To reach the NBA Finals for the first time in franchise history, the Mavericks must stop their former offense.

The system Phoenix uses under Mike D'Antoni isn't identical to the one Don Nelson ran with the Mavericks. But it's close, so close that Mavericks fans may have flashbacks as the team tries to move forward.

I mean, the Suns even have the same point guard.

"I think that Mike's system, the ball moves a little bit more," Steve Nash said. "Nellie was incredible at working mismatches and two-man games. He was extremely creative and experienced.

"Mike is terrific as well, but his philosophy is a little bit more using everyone as a weapon. The ball will go to where it should go. It's a little more influenced by the international game or the college game, where the ball moves and all five guys are a part of the offense. But it's much of the same stuff."

D'Antoni was drafted by the Kansas City-Omaha Kings in the early 1970s and shared a room on the road with former Sacramento coach Rick Adelman. He played for Doug Moe. He played in Italy for 13 years, then stayed another eight to coach.

The NBA game evolved – some would say degenerated – while D'Antoni was overseas. When he returned to coach the Denver Nuggets during the truncated 1998-99 season, he found a game with fewer possessions, less ball movement and a greater emphasis on defense.

"I didn't get the memo," D'Antoni said.

He would have ignored it even if he had.

Legendary UCLA coach John Wooden said that with superior speed, he would beat your team almost every time. D'Antoni agrees. He's willing to sacrifice a couple of inches at this position or that to assemble a team that is quicker than any Phoenix faces.

These Suns have more speed and athletic ability than the Mavericks team that appeared in the Western Conference finals three years ago. There's also another difference. D'Antoni will flare his fourth or fifth option around the 3-point arch rather than having him cut across the lane, the way the Mavericks would do with Eduardo Najera or a lesser offensive option.

"We run to space more," D'Antoni said. "In the older days, a lot of stuff was the cutting. We go for the space. I don't like to cut guys through because if something happens when they're doing that, the spacing isn't quite right.

"But I think what we do is very similar. I think Nellie summed it up best last year when he said he never had an Amare [Stoudemire] in the middle. He never really had that guy who is versatile, who can put it on the floor yet is a dominant force inside. If he would have had that, the teams he had would have been even better."

Nelson thinks a lot of D'Antoni. When the Nuggets fired D'Antoni at the end of the 1998-99 season, Nelson offered him a job.

"I think he wanted a chauffeur, and I didn't have my chauffer's license," D'Antoni said. "He wanted me to take him around Europe is what he wanted."

Not exactly. Nelson wanted D'Antoni to join his staff. That leads to another interesting question: If D'Antoni had accepted, would he have been on the fast track to replace Nelson instead of Avery Johnson? It certainly would have given him a head start.

We'll never know. But we do know that the Mavericks don't have a future in these playoffs if they can't get beyond their offensive past.

Again.

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Doesn't take a genius to see Mavs are better

[By Kevin Sherrington / The Dallas Morning News]

An eclectic pair of Super Bowl teammates once handled the prickly premise of brains in athletics. Dressed as sports writers, which is to say, slobs, they quizzed their peers on a number of topics, including the following:

Do you think intelligence is relative to head size, and if so, what size helmet do you wear?

Correct answer to first question: No.

Even Shaquille O'Neal couldn't palm Kevin Mench's big head, and Mench won't be going Mensa on us anytime soon.

Here's the point: No matter how you measure intelligence, the Mavs' smarts are up for inspection again given that, two games into the series against the Suns, the Mavs are in the same position as last May.

And this is also roughly the anniversary of Dirk Nowitzki asking for his teammates' SAT scores.

First, Nowitzki created some tense moments when he called out Erick Dampier after Game 1.

And after the Suns eliminated the Mavs in six, and he ripped Jason Terry, too, Nowitzki handed out his grades on the club's progress since Steve Nash moved on.

"We just weren't smart enough," he said. "With Steve leaving, our overall basketball IQ wasn't that great."

Funny, but a Phoenix columnist echoed those sentiments even after the Mavs' 105-98 win Friday, which evened the series at 1 going into tonight's game.

Called the Suns a smarter team than the Mavs, from the coaching staff on down.

Question: Are you coaching a smart team, Avery Johnson?

"Absolutely," he said, then hedged. "We're getting smarter. ... We've grown a lot in that area."

Hmmmmm. ... So was Nowitzki's statement a year ago accurate?

"I think it was a fair assessment if it meant everybody," Johnson said, "him included."

Case in point: Nowitzki's comments on Dampier and Terry focused attention on his own game. Not smart. Especially considering he shot less than 40 percent in seven of the Mavs' 13 playoff games, averaging nearly three points under his season scoring average.

To his credit, Nowitzki didn't duck his own problems. He vowed to work on his one-on-one skills and come back tougher.

The result: He's a much better player in these playoffs. Every game is another argument for why he could have been MVP.

The Mavs have come a long way in other areas, too. Johnson cites the addition of Keith Van Horn, the development of Terry, the discovery of Devin Harris.

But smarter? In case you've missed it, the Mavs don't look so smart against the Suns:

Anytime the ball doesn't go through Nowitzki's hands in a half-court possession.

Anytime Nowitzki passes up a shot with Nash on him. Or fewer than three Suns.

Anytime Harris screeches into the lane, brakes, U-turns and tries to shove the ball in Nowitzki's stomach. Ugh.

Anytime everyone crashes the boards on offense and the Suns run free in transition.

Anytime Keith Van Horn's on defense.

Anytime they leave Nash open.

Anytime they make Boris Diaw look all-world.

Yes, the Mavs can still look a couple balls short of a full rack against Phoenix.

Fortunately for the locals, this ain't Jeopardy. No matter what their collective basketball IQ, they're a closer team than last year and better than the extremely bright Suns.

Nothing against Mike D'Antoni, who's done a fabulous job with his club after the loss of Amare Stoudemire.

But Johnson's no hack, either. The coach of the year, he's learned how to push this team's buttons and push them more often.

Dampier can't hang with the Suns? In goes Van Horn. He's toasted? Up steps DeSagana Diop, a roadblock for the Suns' sprint relay.

They figured out how to slow the Suns' transition game, too. Sending only one or two men to the offensive boards hurts the Mavs' second-chance numbers, but it keeps the Suns from releasing so soon.

Hey, Jerry Stackhouse: Is it demoralizing when the Suns score before officials can reset the shot clock?

"A little bit," he said. "It's deflating to watch. I hit a 3-pointer and before I get to midcourt, I have to go back to work on offense again."

The Suns are well aware of what their offense does to opponents' heads.

At least now these Mavs have an idea how to fight back. They've got a coach who's grown into the job and can show them how to beat the Suns this time. A smart coach, no matter what his hat size.

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With Dirk on board, 'Jet' helps Mavs soar

By BRAD TOWNSEND / The Dallas Morning News

Jalayah Terry waits as patiently as a 5-year-old can.

Dallas put Phoenix to bed more than an hour ago, but Jalayah still awaits her first postgame glimpse of her favorite Maverick.

Her daddy, Jason? Uh, not exactly."She makes it very clear who she loves," laughs her mother, Johnyika. "She only wears Dirk jerseys."

Dirk Nowitzki. The same Nowitzki who last May screamed at Jason during a season-ending playoff loss to these same Suns.

The same guy who after that game questioned the Mavericks' "basketball IQ," pointing a finger at the team in general but Terry in particular.

Like last year, the Mavericks lost the series opener to the Suns and have rebounded to win Game 2. But these are the Western Conference finals and, this time, Games 3 and 4 are in Phoenix.

Like last year, Jason Eugene Terry will play a pivotal role in whether the Mavericks march on or get Sun-scorched. But either way, don't expect scolding or finger-pointing from Nowitzki.

"If it wasn't for 'Jet' we wouldn't be where we are now," Nowitzki says. "We wouldn't have beaten San Antonio."

Nowitzki talks about how much Terry, 28, has grown as a basketball player. Perhaps as significant to the Mavericks is the bond that has grown between Nowitzki and Terry.

They are workout partners, text-messaging pals and friendly (most of the time) pingpong rivals.

Granted, they may never be as close as Nowitzki and Steve Nash were during Nash's six seasons in Dallas, before Nash departed in free agency to Phoenix.

But given where their relationship could have gone after those tense moments last May 20, Terry and Nowitzki seem surprisingly tight.

Going to the videotape

The Mavericks had just been ousted by the Suns in Game 6 of the Western Conference semifinals, 130-126 in overtime at American Airlines Center.

With Dallas leading 111-108 late in regulation, Terry inexplicably backpedaled as Nash raced upcourt and drained a 3-pointer with 5.7 seconds left.

After Dallas failed to call timeout or hit a game-saving shot, Nowitzki stalked toward the bench, threw his arms in the air, tossed a towel angrily to the ground and yelled at Terry. Assistant coach Del Harris had to calm Nowitzki down.

After the loss, Nowitzki trudged into the interview room, sat down at the dais and vented.

"I thought we had all the right pieces," he said. "We just weren't smart enough. With Steve leaving, our overall basketball IQ wasn't that great. I think we should have beaten that team."

Not once, Terry says now, have he and Nowitzki spoken of the IQ comment.

"For me, it was self-explanatory because it was all true," Terry says. "When it's coming from your leader, your captain, you have to look at it and say, 'What can I do to get better?' "

What Terry did was spend much of the summer watching videotape, including sessions with coach Avery Johnson.

Terry says he always considered himself a student of the game, including during his five seasons with Atlanta, but now he watches from more of a coach's perspective – i.e., the flow of the offense; the cohesion of the team defense.

"I advanced my IQ," he says. "It's not a knock. You come from Atlanta, not a winning program, and you're in a winning situation now. You want to go further."

This season, Terry's scoring average rose from 12.4 points to 17.1. His assist average dipped as Devin Harris assumed more of the point guard duties.

During the second-round playoff series against defending NBA champion San Antonio, the Spurs repeatedly said their primary focal points were to slow Nowitzki and Terry.

Terry may look at games differently on videotape, but on the court Jet is fueled by instincts and adrenaline. His results fluctuate.

In the victory over San Antonio that gave Dallas a 3-1 series lead, Terry scored 32 points, including a clutch jumper late in regulation and three more in overtime.

But near the end of Game 5, he hit Michael Finley in the groin area with a closed-fist jab, earning a one-game suspension and jeopardizing Dallas' postseason chances.

Yet it is former Maverick and current TV analyst Derek Harper's opinion that Game 7 of that series "showed what Jason Terry is all about." He had 27 points, six assists and, just as impressive to Harper, showed a willingness to be the late-game "hero or goat."

"To be one of the special ones, you've got to want to take that shot," Terry says. "You've also got to be willing to fail, learn from it, come back and take that shot again."

Nash stands in the way

Against Phoenix, Terry has struggled from the field, shooting 12-of-32 (37.5 percent) in the two games.

But it was Terry and Nowitzki scoring all the points in a 12-2 run in Game 2 that gave Dallas the lead for good, 90-84. Terry's defense, along with double-team help from teammates, compelled Nash not to attempt a second-half shot until the final three seconds.

The rest of series represents not only Terry's chance to escape Nash's Dallas shadow for good, but perhaps also to cement a home here. He becomes a free agent at season's end.

"Wherever God wants me to be, that's where I'm going," he says. "Hopefully, it will be here in Dallas. We've got something good going here. We'll see.

"But our mind is solely focused on winning the championship. Everything will take care of itself."

Where Terry and Nowitzki are concerned, last May is history. During road trips, they lift weights together, or on nights off find an empty gym and shoot together.

At odd times, Nowitzki sends text messages such as "How's the family doing?" or "Man, did you see how Miami defended that pick-and-roll?" or "What's for dinner?"

Terry teases Nowitzki about his bachelorhood and gets dating updates. He has played pingpong and hung out at Nowitzki's house.

Although Nowitzki has yet to visit Terry's home in Frisco, he certainly is a favorite there, especially to the Terrys' middle daughter.

"She leaves Dirk love letters, but she can't write yet, so it's in scribble," Terry says. "In school, they call her Miss Nowitzki. That's her nickname."

Throughout Friday's game, Jalayah waved a small Nowitzki poster that her teacher helped her make, with two photos of Dirk, his statistics, jersey number and a heart.

And when he finally emerged from the locker room, it was hard to tell whose face lit up more, hers or his.