DMN Notebook: Najera, Jamison, Finley

[MavsFanFinley]

Notebook: Najera defends his actions
Mavs forward says Adelman, Kings out of line in crying foul

By CHUCK CARLTON / The Dallas Morning News

The Mavericks' Eduardo Najera described himself as an honorable man in a demanding role.

"I do the dirty work," Najera said. "I'm not dirty, though."

The Sacramento Kings offered a different opinion after Game 2 with the Mavericks. Kings coach Rick Adelman criticized Najera's aggressive defense against Chris Webber. The subplot is likely to continue into Saturday's Game 3.

"It's totally unfair," Mavericks guard Steve Nash said, switching from outrage to sarcasm. "Everybody knows we're all thugs here."

If anything, the Mavericks are the anti-Bad Boys, the physical persona adopted by the 1980s Detroit Pistons.

Najera took the complaints as a sign he's doing his job well. His goal: force Webber away from the post and to the perimeter, where Najera can use his quickness.

"I don't know if they're trying to make a statement to the refs," Na- jera said. "I'm just going to keep on going with what I'm doing. I couldn't care less what they say."

Najera pointed to his track record, which is clean except for a one-game suspension after improper contact with referee Jack Nies last season.

"If they're saying I'm trying to hurt somebody, I don't think that's what I'm showing out there," Najera said.

Mavericks coach Don Nelson called the fuss "silly really. You need to isolate what you're talking about and send it to the league."

Finley would change:

Guard Michael Finley said he should have used a different move in the final seconds of Game 2 against Sacramento's Peja Stojakovic.

With the Mavericks trailing by two points, Finley lost the ball and never got a shot in an 83-79 loss.

"As far as the last play, I know what I did wrong," said Finley, who was 8-of-25 from the field in Games 1 and 2. "I know what I should have done. If I had an opportunity again, I would do it completely different, but this is the playoffs. You make mistakes and learn from them. Unlike college, it's not a one-and-you're-done."

Coach Don Nelson targeted Finley in Thursday's practice and was pleased with the result.

"We need Mike to play at a high level for our small team to be at its best," Nelson said. "He defended well, he followed his game plan but just struggled on the offensive end. So we need to do some offensive things to help him."

Jamison values award:

Antawn Jamison said winning the NBA's Sixth Man of the Year Award will carry special meaning.

"If it were to happen, it would definitely be kind of a feel-good story knowing that the sacrifices and accepting the role justifies itself a little bit," Jamison said. "It would be a pretty good thing to happen, if it were to happen."

Jamison need not worry.

Word leaked Wednesday and the Mavericks have scheduled a news conference today.

Briefly:

The Mavericks rallied from a 2-0 deficit to beat Utah in five games in 2001. ... Antawn Jamison doesn't expect a repeat of the hamstring tightness that limited him in Game 2. While Jamison will try to stay loose on the sideline, he has his limits. "That riding the bike, that's for Dennis Rodman or somebody," he said.