Dirk's wish list: Mavs playing up to potential

[MavsFanFinley]

Dirk's wish list: Mavs playing up to potential
Star forward puts blame on himself and team after 16-9 start

By EDDIE SEFKO / The Dallas Morning News

NEW YORK – Ah, Christmastime in the Big Apple. The hustle. The bustle. The shopping. The basketball.

Some people believe this is the most wonderful time of the year. And there's no place like New York for the holidays. It was also a good place for Dirk Nowitzki to unleash a little 'Bah, humbug' Monday.

The Mavericks are 25 games into the season and although a 16-9 record is not shabby, it's the way they are playing that has Scrooge Nowitzki speaking out.

"With this team, we can't be satisfied with the record we have and with the way we're playing," Nowitzki said after a brisk practice at a sports club. "We just can't settle for that. We got to be way better than that.

"The record is all right. But in a lot of games we never played up to our potential. I think this team has a lot of potential and we're not really reaching it. So the next 25 games we got to do a lot better."

Nowitzki isn't just giving that lump of coal to the team in general. It's his nature to blame himself first. In that respect, he looks at the last three games – 16.3 points, nine rebounds, 12-of-43 shooting (27.9 percent) – and doesn't like what he sees.

However, Nowitzki has used the last six days, in which the Mavericks had only one game, to get over ankle and back aches.

"I'm better, definitely," he said. "Those days off really helped. Hopefully, I got it all out of the way. Last year, I was struggling in December and got it out of the way and didn't have any problems the rest of the year.

"But I should have produced better than I did [last week]. We lost a big game against Golden State, and I see a lot of that as my fault. Even though I wasn't 100 percent, I should have found a way to help my team win and I didn't do that."

Three subpar shooting games are hardly cause for concern. Nowitzki is the least of the Mavericks' problems in the big picture, coach Don Nelson said.

"He definitely needed to get healthy again," he said. "And I think this is just what the doctor ordered – get the body rested a little bit. Practices don't [wear a player out] like games, and your own teammates look out for you."

After playing the New York Knicks tonight, the Mavericks go to Atlanta on Wednesday. They then have three days off and only three games in the next two weeks.

Nelson agreed with Nowitzki that this is the time he would like to see signs of improvement.

"At this time, I don't count on anything," Nelson said. "We just try to prepare for these next 25 games and do a better job. I'm disappointed with our play, but not with our number of victories. We still haven't hit on all of our cylinders."

Different routine:

The Mavericks usually practice in Dallas, then take an afternoon flight when they start a road trip.

This time, they flew to New York first, then had an afternoon practice. The fact that the trip starts in New York, where all NBA players seem to have friends and/or family and the restaurant and nightlife options are plentiful, had nothing to do with it.

"I don't think so," coach Don Nelson said. "Avery [Johnson] worked them pretty darn hard in practice."

Briefly:

Guard Jerry Stackhouse (bruised hand) will not play tonight and is doubtful for Wednesday's game at Atlanta. ... The Mavericks are 7-2 when Michael Finley plays and does not have to leave because of an injury, as he did at Orlando last month. Without Finley, they are 9-7. In those 16 games, Dirk Nowitzki averaged 21.9 points, compared with 28.5 in games without Finley.

[MavsFanFinley]

Nowitzki back in hunt for title

By Art Garcia
Star-Telegram Staff Writer

NEW YORK - Despite a recent injury-induced downturn, Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki remains squarely in the hunt for a scoring title. He's third in the league at 26 points per game, trailing Kobe Bryant and Allen Iverson.

A Maverick has never won an NBA scoring title, and though there's too much season left to consider Nowitzki's chances, someone did come close -- once. And that someone will be sitting on the other bench tonight.

New York assistant coach Mark Aguirre outscored every player except Utah's Adrian Dantley in the league during the 1983-84 season. Aguirre averaged 29.5 points that season -- still the Mavs' franchise record.

The Mavs (16-9) begin a brief two-game road trip tonight against the Knicks at Madison Square Garden. The trek ends Wednesday at Atlanta.

"The strangest thing is Dirk and I talked a little bit over the last couple of years and he's always like, 'You really did that, you really did that?' " Aguirre said. "I was like, 'Yeah, that's true.' "

An integral part of the Mavs' success in the 1980s, Aguirre still holds several team records. He wonders why his No. 24 jersey isn't retired and hanging in the American Airlines Center rafters.

"Not to be up there, sometimes it bothers me," said Aguirre, who averaged 24.6 points during his Mavs career. "But what are you going to do? I can't do anything about it."

The only person who can is Mark Cuban. And the Mavs owner isn't ready for Aguirre to join Brad Davis and Rolando Blackman in the exclusive group of retirees.

"He should want to get his number retired," Cuban said. "Mark is right up there, but it's just not something I'm addressing right now. My personal feeling is you don't start thinking about retiring numbers as an organization, and it's nothing against Ro and Brad, because they've been a huge part of the organization, but you've got to win championships first.

"I don't even want to think about it until we win a championship. And if we go a long time and never win a championship, then I'll think about it again."

Aguirre played for the Mavs from 1982 until being traded to Detroit for, ironically enough, Dantley during the 1988-89 season. The Pistons won the first of back-to-back NBA titles that season.

Aguirre scored 13,930 points in his Mavs career, second only to Blackman's 16,643. Aguirre led the Mavs in scoring each season he was with the team.

"His numbers speak for itself," said TCU-ex Kurt Thomas, a former Mavs forward who's with the Knicks. "Definitely, his number should be hanging up there along with Rolando and Brad."

Just don't expect it there anytime soon.

"Hopefully, over the next few years, we'll take care of Point A, then we'll create a Ring of Honor," Cuban said.

Aguirre said if his Mavs jersey is never retired, no one can erase the mark he left on the franchise. He also doesn't plan to broach the subject with Cuban.

"I'll always be at the top of their record books," Aguirre said. "Dirk might overtake some things, but I'm never going to leave."

[EricaLubarsky]

hey! Dirk and I have the same thing on our christmas list.