[Articles] Playoffs 2008 - Round 1: Mavericks vs. Hornets

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Dallas Mavericks expect double-Dirk defense

08:19 PM CDT on Thursday, April 17, 2008
By EDDIE SEFKO / The Dallas Morning News

The numbers suggest the NBA has figured out Dirk Nowitzki.

The faces and uniforms change yearly. But the last two playoffs have looked identical to the Dallas Mavericks' star. He keeps seeing double. Or triple.

And those multiple defenders running his way have had a big hand in his reduced productivity in the 2006 NBA Finals and the first-round flameout last season. Those two series are why Nowitzki is squarely under the microscope as the Mavericks prepare to open the first round Saturday at New Orleans.

"Any team, whether it's the Lakers or New Orleans or San Antonio or Phoenix, when they walk through the door, they're not just going to allow Dirk to beat them," Mavericks coach Avery Johnson said.

If Wednesday's regular-season finale was any indication, the Hornets have no intention of letting Nowitzki find a groove. They quickly sent David West, Tyson Chandler and other players at Nowitzki anytime he touched the ball.

The result was 4-of-16 shooting by Nowitzki and a Mavericks win, which they would take in a heartbeat starting Saturday.

"Yeah, I knew from the meetings we played them this year, that they were coming," Nowitzki said. "Even when I catch the ball at 15, 16 feet, they don't want me isolating and looking at them and dancing. They don't even want that. Usually teams come at the low post when I get the ball deep down there. But they're coming early trying to get the ball out of my hands."

This is a trend that started when Nowitzki shot 39 percent in the '06 Finals and continued with 38.3 percent shooting last season against the Warriors.

The defensive tactic has worked before. The Mavericks are determined not to let it work again.

"It's something we know a lot of teams love to try on us," Johnson said. "It's nothing new. And how we execute against it is going to be a big key in this series, how we make them pay for their double-teams."

The onus, then, falls on Josh Howard, among others. The swingman has been dominant at times this season, and at other times, has drifted into the background.

"Teams know coming into the playoffs, they're going to focus on Dirk," Howard said. "That gives other players the opportunity to step up. Since I've been here, that's been the way of it."

Said Johnson: "We don't think we can be that good in the playoffs if [Howard] doesn't play at a high level."

Howard appears to have gotten over a sore right knee that bothered him late in the season. Now, it's simply a matter of Howard and others bailing Nowitzki out when the defense tries to suffocate him.

Not that Nowitzki will let that happen without a fight. He said Wednesday's game was a good preview of what not to do against the Hornets.

"Early on, I kept passing the ball out," Nowitzki said. "And then when I had some shots, I never had a good rhythm. So I've got to find a way to sometimes still be in attack mode. If I have a look, I still have to sometimes drive through the double-team."

So aggressiveness will not be a problem in the best-of-7 series. But Nowitzki knows he won't be able to win all four games with Herculean efforts. He'll need help.

The question is whether the Hornets can scramble defensively as well as the Miami Heat or the Golden State Warriors, who stifled Nowitzki in the last two playoff series, in which the Mavericks have a 4-8 record.

"The rest of the guys, if that's the case, we got to stand up and help him out," Jason Kidd said. "We can use him as the playmaker – get him the triple-double. The nice thing is he understands the pass. If that's what they're going to do, somebody's going to be open.

"He doesn't have to feel like he has to shoot it with two guys on him."

Johnson points to the Los Angeles Lakers as a prime example.

"You need other guys to step up in the playoffs," he said. "You look at what LA is doing now. They're playing some really good ball, and it's not because [Kobe] Bryant is scoring 60, 80 or 100 points a game."

It's the other guys who make the difference. The NBA seems to have figured this out.

Maybe Nowitzki and the Mavericks will do the same this time.

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Dallas Mavericks make the call for over-and-back

09:58 PM CDT on Thursday, April 17, 2008
By EDDIE SEFKO / The Dallas Morning News
esefko@dallasnews.com

Managing his team is job one for coach Avery Johnson as he and his staff made the decision Thursday that the Mavericks would return to Dallas between Games 1 and 2 of the first-round playoff series with the Hornets.

The team will travel to New Orleans early today and practice at New Orleans Arena. After Saturday's 6 p.m. game, they will return home for practices Sunday and Monday.

It was a move met with overwhelming support by the person who matters most.

"I don't think we want to be there for three days," Dirk Nowitzki said. "You want to go home and sleep in your own bed. So actually, I like it."

The decision brought back memories for Nowitzki. The last time the Mavericks didn't have the home-court advantage in the first round was 2004 against Sacramento. Before that, it was 2001 against Utah. The Mavericks came home between the first and second games.

"That's when my quote happened, 'Utah's a bad city' " Nowitzki said. "We went home in between, and it was pretty good."

If the hat fits: Johnson said it's interesting that the Mavericks are being viewed in a different light as the No. 7 seed. Many national experts are predicting them to upset the Hornets. He's looking forward to seeing how his team responds to the underdog role.

"It's just a different hat," he said. "And how we manage wearing this particular hat remains to be seen. Since we took over here, we've never been a seventh seed. It's a situation where we're not the team that's being talked about. Hopefully, down the road, we'll give somebody something to talk about."

Been there before: Much is being made about the Hornets' lack of playoff experience.

Josh Howard was asked how much he remembers about his first playoff appearance. "It was quick," he said. His rookie year was the Mavericks' one-and-done season of 2004, when Sacramento knocked them out in five games.

The Hornets have three starters who have never started a playoff game. Their leader, Chris Paul, has never played in the postseason.

"They're so inexperienced, they won 56 games," Johnson said. "They're awfully good. They won our [Southwest] division. Everybody seemed to think coming in that one of the Texas teams was going to win the division. We've just got to go down there, give ourselves a chance knowing it's a long, grind-it-out series."

No extra credit: Since the Mavericks and Hornets played in the regular-season finale, there may not be much of a feeling-out process in Game 1 on Saturday.

"You can kind of look at it as possibly the first game of the series, but we don't get credit for it as a win," Jerry Stackhouse said. "The playoffs are about making adjustments. What happened [Wednesday] won't be indicative of what will happen in Game 1, and it definitely won't be indicative of what's going to happen as the series goes on."

Stackhouse said his right groin injury did not give him any problems in 16 minutes of playing time Wednesday.

"With a groin, the more time you can let it rest, the better," he said. "I don't think I'll play 35 minutes, but hopefully, I can get back to my 24, 25 minutes."

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Lack of playoff experience doesn't bug Hornets

10:44 PM CDT on Thursday, April 17, 2008
By DAVID MOORE / The Dallas Morning News

New Orleans reminds me of the neighborhood kid who learns to ride a bike.

He does great for 6 ½ months and blows by almost every other kid on the block. When he finally does fall, everyone nods and declares it was only a matter of time.

An admission: this didn't happen on my block. But it's going on in the NBA right now.

The Hornets own a winning record against the seven teams that join them in the Western Conference playoffs. New Orleans came within an eyelash of landing the No. 1 seed.

Yet outside of the organization, everyone sits around and waits for them to fail.

"I mean, we won 56 games, and right now, we're probably looked at to be eliminated from the playoffs in a four-game sweep," Hornets guard Chris Paul said.

No one is predicting a Mavericks sweep. At least, no one should.

But New Orleans did itself no favors by ending the regular season with a 111-98 loss to the team it will face in the first round.

"After tonight, it's almost guaranteed we'll be picked to lose," Hornets forward David West said. "We've been put in that scenario just about every big game we've had this year, every single situation we've been in, and we've been able to relish that role and be successful and productive.

"We've heard all of that stuff all year."

The Los Angeles Lakers were the only team in the conference to win more games than New Orleans. The Hornets won 37 games by 10 or more points, forged the second-best road record in the West and won their last 19 home games by an average of 16.5 points. Skeptics grudgingly gave the Hornets their due.

So what banana peel do critics place in front of the Hornets now?

Playoff experience.

Paul will make his post-season debut in this series. West and Tyson Chandler will make the first postseason starts of their careers.

The Mavericks? Jason Kidd, Dirk Nowitzki and Josh Howard have 224 playoff starts between them.

Paul acknowledges the gap. But as he points out, the only way to get the experience is to play in the postseason. He figures it's better to start now than next season.

"To tell you the truth, everyone in our starting five has played in the playoffs except for me," Paul said. "So I'm the only one who doesn't know what it's like. If we've got to go to battle like that, I'm comfortable with those guys knowing what it's like and I'm the only one who doesn't.

"I like our chances."

It didn't seem to hurt Utah's Deron Williams. The other brilliant point guard from Paul's rookie class led his team to the Western Conference finals in his postseason debut.

"Yeah, D-Will went out there and killed last year," Paul said. "If I can do half as good as D-Will did, we'll be all right.

"We still understand we've got the No. 2 seed and the series starts in New Orleans."

Spoken like someone who has yet to fall off his bike.

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Mavericks at Hornets, Game 1, 6 p.m. Saturday, KTXA/21, ESPN

QB Kidd shows foes he's still triple threat for Dallas Mavericks

By JEFF CAPLAN
jcaplan@star-telegram.com

DALLAS -- Jason Kidd is a triple-double waiting to happen. And it finally happened in Wednesday's season finale, 29 games into his second stint as the Mavericks' point guard.

Triple-doubles are flashy, exciting and are probably the greatest gauge to measure a player's versatility, but triple-doubles alone don't win championships.

With New Jersey this season, Kidd racked up 12 triple-doubles in 51 games. That's one just about every four games on a dysfunctional and spiraling team.

The Mavericks don't possess the same style of complementary wing players as New Jersey with Richard Jefferson and Vince Carter. Josh Howard figured to be the benefactor of alley-oop dunks and imaginative, Kidd-fueled romps to the basket, but it hasn't necessarily worked out that way yet. And Dirk Nowitzki simply isn't that kind of player.

Kidd's averages with the Mavs -- 9.9 points, 9.5 assists and 6.5 rebounds -- are slightly below his numbers in New Jersey, but gaining. Spurred by coach Avery Johnson to take the open shot no matter what, Kidd's 3-point shooting average of 46.1 percent, bolstered by a season-high five 3s in Wednesday's win over New Orleans, is most surprising.

Most interesting, though, is what's happened to Nowitzki's and center Erick Dampier's shooting percentages. They've skyrocketed. In 24 games with Kidd, Nowitzki is shooting 50.1 percent.

More astounding is his 3-point accuracy. Mired below 30 percent for a chunk of the season, Nowitzki has made 38-of-79 for 48.1 percent with Kidd. More than ever, Nowitzki is getting the ball in position to catch-and-fire just as he likes it.

Dampier has had eight games of scoring in double figures with Kidd. He had six in 42 games before the trade.

Ultimately, the Mavs didn't acquire Kidd to add on to the now 100 triple-doubles he has amassed in 14 NBA seasons. His expensive price tag came with hopes of leadership, playmaking, crunch-time poise and -- in Johnson's jargon -- to "quarterback" the Mavs to a memorable postseason run.

Things started rough under Kidd, with 10 losses in a row to teams with a winning record.

The Mavs have wiped that slate clean and have focused on recent spirited wins over the Suns, Jazz and now their first-round playoff opponent, the Hornets.

"Your quarterback position has a significant role for any team, whether it's football or basketball," Johnson said. "We think we've gotten Kidd much further along and ahead of where he was when he first got here, and we need to keep that momentum going."

Simply Re-Dirk-u-lous

How else can you describe what Dirk Nowitzki has accomplished since his scary left ankle and knee sprain against the San Antonio Spurs on March 23.

The injury could have ended his season, and when he went down, the Mavs became the choice of most analysts to miss the playoffs.

"I don't even want to think about that," Nowitzki said the day after the injury.

He wouldn't let it happen. He returned earlier than expected and he has been nothing short of phenomenal, putting the team on his shoulders and hitting game-winning shots at Phoenix and against Utah to ultimately secure a playoff spot.

He's averaged 24.0 points since his return April 2.

The real Josh

Josh Howard must be a dynamic player for the Mavs to make a deep postseason run. The final stretch of the season has been a real head-scratcher.

A slow start with Jason Kidd led to speculation that recent deaths in the family and a nasty spill on his back had taken a mental and physical toll.

He flourished in the four consecutive games Dirk Nowitzki missed, putting up 30 or more points three times and averaging 30.8 points. Coach Avery Johnson stressed to Howard to stay as aggressive when Nowitzki returned to the lineup.

"We don't think we can be that good in the playoffs if he doesn't play at a high level," Johnson said. "Because any team, whether it's the Lakers or New Orleans or San Antonio or Phoenix, when they walk through the door, they're not going to just allow Dirk to beat them."

Upon Nowitzki's return, Howard started off aggressively, racking up 23 free-throw attempts over the next four games while averaging 23 points. A bruised right knee and poor shooting -- 11-of-41 in his last three games -- again has raised eyebrows. But Howard has declared himself 100 percent fit.

"I'm ready for the playoffs," he said.

Contest that shot

The stat probably most understated, or just plain ignored, is the Mavs' field-goal percentage defense and 3-point field-goal defense.

They ended the season ranked fourth in field-goal percentage, allowing 44.3 percent from the field and fifth defending 3-pointers at 34.9 percent. The latter could be a key stat to watch in the first round against New Orleans, which shoots 38.9 percent from long range, third-best in the league.

The Mavs held seven of their final 20 opponents under 40 percent shooting from the field and 18 of 20 under 50 percent. Not surprisingly, both games above 50 percent were losses.

Road work

All season Dirk Nowitzki said good teams find ways to win on the road. The Mavs never did, finishing 17-24, including two disappointing losses at Portland and Seattle to close the road schedule.

The Mavs went 3-5 on the road in the fourth quarter of the season with a blowout win at Miami and an inspiring rally at Phoenix.

The last time the Mavs finished below .500 on the road -- 2003-04 -- they bowed out of the playoffs in the first round against Sacramento. The Mavs open this postseason at New Orleans on Saturday, where they were 0-2 this season.

"We've got to be confident that we can win on the road," Nowitzki said. "We didn't have a great year winning games on the road so we have to make sure we play a lot better there and go steal one and go from there."

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MAVERICKS NOTES: After past experiences, Mavs happy as underdog

By LORI DANN
Star-Telegram Staff Writer

Being the favorite didn't work out so well for the Dallas Mavericks last season in the playoffs. So it's no wonder that they're perfectly happy to accept an underdog role against the New Orleans Hornets.

"We're flying under the radar," Josh Howard said Thursday after a film session to prepare for Saturday's Game 1. "Guys are more loose and looking to have more fun out there. The pressure's off."

One year after a historic regular season, an MVP performance by Dirk Nowitzki and a stunning first-round loss to the No. 8 seed Golden State Warriors, the roles are reversed for the Mavericks.

They squeaked into the playoffs as the seventh seed -- a position they've never been in under coach Avery Johnson -- and they're facing a New Orleans team that set a club record with 56 victories, won its first division title and has an MVP candidate in point guard Chris Paul.

Coach Avery Johnson has taken every opportunity this week to build up the Hornets, but he also likes what he's seen from his own team in the past two weeks. After struggling early, the Mavs have won four of their last five games against teams with winning records.

But Johnson wouldn't go so far as to call the Mavs dangerous. He'd rather take the underdog label and run with it.

"It's just a different hat, and how we manage wearing this particular hat remains to be seen," he said. "It's a situation where we're not the team that's being talked about. Hopefully, down the road we'll give somebody something to talk about."

Stack ready for more

Mavs swingman Jerry Stackhouse, who missed the previous nine games because of a strained groin, said he felt no ill effects after playing 16 minutes in his return Wednesday night. He believes those minutes will continue to increase during the playoffs.

"I don't think I'll play 35 minutes, but I do think, hopefully, I can get to what I averaged during the season -- around 24, 25 minutes -- to help the team," he said.

Chess match

Hornets coach Byron Scott has a pretty good scouting report on Mavs point guard Jason Kidd. Scott was coaching in New Jersey when Kidd led the Nets to the NBA Finals in 2002 and 2003.

Scott doesn't believe the familiarity will have much of an impact on the series, but he might know a few areas where Kidd might be vulnerable.

"We'll try to exploit him as much as possible. Then again, he's still one of the smartest guys in this league as well," Scott said. "He's going to try to make all the things that we think are negatives work against us. It's going to be a little bit of a chess match."

Travel itinerary

With two days between Games 1 and 2, the Mavs will return to Dallas after Saturday's opener and head back to New Orleans following Monday practice.

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For Dallas Mavericks' Johnson, return to New Orleans is strictly business

09:04 PM CDT on Friday, April 18, 2008
By EDDIE SEFKO / The Dallas Morning News
esefko@dallasnews.com

NEW ORLEANS – Avery Johnson works in Dallas, but lives in The Woodlands during the off-season. But he's got so much of the Big Easy running through his veins that if he cut himself shaving, it would surprise nobody if gumbo oozed out.

This is where he and his wife, Cassandra, grew up. It's still home in many ways.

But Johnson made it clear on the eve of the first-round series against New Orleans that frivolity is low on his to-do list while he's here.

"This is a business trip for me," he said. "This city means a whole heck of a lot to me. I do have a lot of family members that live in the city and friends. But this is the playoffs. We're not here to throw parties and do things that maybe we'd even do during the regular season. We want to do the best job we can. Then when we come back in July, we can have some family reunions."

Johnson, like all the Mavericks, is under the pressure of two years' worth of disappointment in the playoffs. The Mavericks lost in the first round last season after winning 67 games during the regular season. It was the first time a No. 8 seed had taken down a No. 1 seed in the best-of-7 format.

The year before that was the NBA Finals collapse against Miami.

Johnson accepts the fact people are going to talk about his future, not to mention that of many of his players.

"That's what we sign up for," he said. "Every year that you don't win the championship, we realize that there can be some changes. That's part of the business. There's only 400-and-some players and 30 head coaches. It's a very rare situation. That's why we cherish it day in and day out."

Voice of experience: Assistant coach Mario Elie was on a No. 7-seeded team as a rookie that won a playoff series when Golden State beat San Antonio in 1991. He also was on the sixth-seeded Houston Rockets that won the '95 NBA championship.

Elie was asked if he could impart any wisdom to the Mavericks about the daunting task of having to most likely win every playoff series without the home-court advantage.

"The good thing with our squad is we have playoff experience," he said. "I understand New Orleans is a very good team. They say experience doesn't count, but it does. It really, really does. We've all been through the wars. It's going to be interesting how Chris Paul and David West, who haven't been in this environment, respond."

Elie referenced Utah's Deron Williams, who led the Jazz to the Western Conference finals last year, as an example that a lack of experience can be overcome.

Inside information? Jason Kidd played for New Orleans coach Byron Scott when they were taking the New Jersey Nets to the NBA Finals twice earlier this decade.

Kidd said he still has strong feelings for Scott, but said the biggest thing in this series is knowing some of the problems that the Mavericks will face.

"The biggest thing for me is I understand the system that they run because I was in it," he said. "I'm just trying to help my teammates with it."

Kidd added that Scott deserves serious consideration for coach of the year.

Briefly: Dirk Nowitzki on the West playoffs: "Phoenix has to play San Antonio in the first round. That's probably one of the best first-round matchups ever. Every matchup is going to be tough." ... The Mavericks will host a watching party tonight at Dave & Buster's on Walnut Hill at Highway 75. ... Upon hearing that several national analysts were picking the Mavericks against the Hornets, Johnson said: "That's a total disrespect for New Orleans. And a lot of people nationally don't know what they're talking about. Nobody has a crystal ball. First of all, I don't know why anybody would pick us, anyway. They never pick us."

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Seeds of doubt aside, Dallas Mavericks have reasons to believe

09:23 PM CDT on Friday, April 18, 2008
By KEVIN SHERRINGTON / The Dallas Morning News

The best player on the floor will be the Hornets' point guard and the Mavs don't have home-court advantage this year, but consider 20 reasons Dallas is better off against the No. 2 seed in the West than playing straight man for Golden State:

• Even if Avery Johnson prefers being a favorite, his players don't. You need a strain of arrogance to play the part lest doubt creeps in.

Michael Jordan had that kind of arrogance. Larry Bird had it. Kobe Bryant has it.

Dirk Nowitzki doesn't.

• The Mavs know they can beat the Hornets. Deep down, they weren't so sure about the Warriors. Golden State had won seven of its last eight regular-season games. Winning the season finale over the Hornets by 13 – with Jason Kidd's first triple-double as a Maverick – boosts confidence.

• The Hornets are 0-for-6 in best-of-7 series. David Moore tells us playoff experience is overrated, and he's right. Before pulling off last year's huge upset, Golden State hadn't been invited to the playoffs in 12 seasons. Here's the deal: When you're ahead, experience isn't an issue. When you're behind late, it helps to know you've done it.

• Don Nelson will not coach the Hornets.

• If Nowitzki isn't Ubermensch in the first round, it's still OK. Dirk's worst games came against New Orleans. He was 4-of-16 from the field Wednesday for 12 points, and 2-of-8 on Dec. 14 for a season-low seven points. And the Mavs won both games comfortably. Go figure.

• The Hornets haven't won in Dallas since Khalid Reeves ran the point for the Mavs.

• Kidd isn't as ancient as he looked Feb. 20. In his first game against the Hornets, he had more turnovers than assists and played point guard like Willie Mays handled center field for the Mets. Since Johnson has allowed him to post up on defenders, Kidd's confidence has returned. He probably won't hit five of eight 3-pointers as he did Wednesday – he may never make that many again – but for the first time as a Maverick, he didn't look afraid to try.

• Stephen Jackson will not torment Nowitzki. Or taunt the Mavs' bench.

• Despite two ugly losses in the great Northwest, the Mavs are peaking at the right time: 4-1 in their last five games against winning teams.

• Defense no longer drains the life from Dallas. Johnson preaches a relentless commitment that's difficult when it's not your nature. Out of necessity, he eased off. Good defense means making stops when necessary. Example: Double-teaming Hornets point guard Chris Paul in the backcourt during the Mavs' 30-6 run Wednesday.

• A seven-game series tests depth, and the Hornets' starters showed signs of wear late. Dallas' bench outscored New Orleans', 167-87, during the regular season series.

• The Hornets haven't won in Dallas since Vlade Divac was a Hornet.

• Byron Scott coached Jason Kidd, but he's never coached the Mavs.

• Jason Terry averaged more points against the Hornets this season than against any team but Milwaukee. The Mavs beat the Hornets on Dec. 14 and Wednesday because Terry scored 25 and 30 points when Nowitzki managed only seven and 12, respectively. Terry is averaging 21.6 points over his last five games, proof he's building chemistry with Kidd.

• Instead of figuring out how to plague the Mavs, Baron Davis wonders why Nellie forgot him.

• Brandon Bass wants to make Scott regretful. Bass had his best game against his old team on Wednesday, with 13 points and 12 rebounds. If Bass keeps it up, the Mavs could neutralize the Hornets' athletic frontcourt.

• Johnson won't bench Erick Dampier in the first round again. No one has benefited more from Kidd's presence than Dampier, who must overpower Tyson Chandler.

• For the first time in weeks, Nowitzki, Josh Howard and Jerry Stackhouse are all reasonably healthy.

• If it means anything, the Mavs are the national experts' trendy upset choice.

• Tim MacMahon picks the Hornets in 7. If that doesn't convince you otherwise, nothing will.

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Pressure is on Kidd to deliver in playoffs for Dallas Mavericks

10:25 PM CDT on Friday, April 18, 2008
By EDDIE SEFKO / The Dallas Morning News
esefko@dallasnews.com

NEW ORLEANS – Jason Kidd has his eyes wide-open, and not just when he's leading a fast break and seeing teammates like nobody else can.

He sees other stuff, too, like what's written about him. And he hears what is being said. And if you are among the many who think the Mavericks' playoff run – be it long or short – will define Kidd's legacy as a Maverick, he understands.

He wouldn't have it any other way.

A lot of people think the pressure is on the 35-year-old point guard to lead the Mavericks to an extended playoff run. They gave up a quality young point guard in Devin Harris and a sizeable chunk of the franchise's future to get Kidd.

Now is the time to deliver the goods. At least, that's the perception.

Kidd's response?

"If it's on me, I enjoy that," he said in that soft-spoken but direct way he has about him. "I enjoy the competition. It's fun.

"I've always looked at Reggie Miller and guys like that who enjoyed sitting in that seat – how they handled it, how they responded. Some guys don't like to sit in that seat. Some guys do. I don't mind it. This is my job, and I enjoy my job."

So crank up the heat on that seat. Kidd is ready to take it as the Mavericks open the first round today at New Orleans Arena against the Hornets.

In Kidd's defense, there should be no debate about his ability to handle this situation. As recently as last season, he averaged a triple-double – 14.6 points, 10.9 assists, 10.9 rebounds – in 12 playoff games.

He's been in 100 career playoff games, more than Dirk Nowitzki or any of his other Mavericks teammates.

But the skeptics are out there. They say the Mavericks have to catch lightning in a bottle because there has been no tangible evidence to date to indicate this team is anything more than one-and-done in the playoffs.

After six seasons in New Jersey dealing with the glare of the demanding New York market – and two trips to the NBA Finals – anything Mavericks fans or local media can dish out will have no impact on Kidd.

"No, if it does, then I'm in trouble," he said. "I look at it as the best time of the year. You got 16 teams fighting for one goal and that's to win the big thing. You hope you're the team that represents the Western Conference to go against the East.

"There's really no pressure. The challenge is to find a way to win the series. That's the fun part. I've always felt that once you get to the playoffs, it's not about seedings. It's about who gets to four first."

Nowitzki is considerably optimistic about the possibilities with Kidd. Playing with a next-level point guard is a luxury the 7-footer hasn't had since Steve Nash left four seasons ago.

But he knows Kidd must play a certain way.

"We have to have him being aggressive," Nowitzki said. "The really good teams are going to play him for the pass, so he's going to have to keep them honest."

If Kidd veers from that mission, his coach will be there to let him know about it.

Avery Johnson, also perhaps feeling a fair amount of pressure as the playoffs open, has seen Kidd operate for two months. And he knows which Kidd must show up. It's the one who had 27 points against the Hornets on Wednesday in the regular-season finale.

He doesn't necessarily have to throw in that many points, of course. Just be a threat to do so.

"We've been kind of nudging Kidd to play that way for a while," Johnson said. "I like him when he's aggressive. He puts a lot of pressure on the defense. When he has those games where he doesn't look to shoot as much, we're not as good a team."

And as for Kidd's first instinct, which is to pass the basketball, Johnson added:

"It's a team game, but at the same time, we have men on the team that have more responsibility than others. They understand that. That's what we sign up for.

"And your quarterback has a significant role for any team. We think we've gotten Kidd much further along than where he was when he first got here. And we need to keep that momentum going."

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Pressure points

Ever the tactician, Kidd insists Mavs enter playoffs free of expectations

By JEFF CAPLAN
Star-Telegram staff writer

NEW ORLEANS -- In recent days, Jason Kidd has decried suggestions that playoff pressure spawned from past collapses will inevitably consume and doom the Dallas Mavericks this postseason.

Kidd still ran the show in New Jersey when the Mavs flubbed the 2006 Finals and last season's 67-win team fizzled in the first round. Ultimately, those failures are why the veteran point guard returned to Dallas two months ago, to manage pressure and turn the tables on those mammoth misfortunes.

Kidd's quite serious assertions that pressure is not relevant, that no expectation to advance beyond the young and talented New Orleans Hornets exists "because no one expected us to be here," are tactical statements made to ease the burden on his teammates. Or perhaps he's delusional.

"I think there's really no pressure," Kidd said. "The challenge is to find a way to win this series, and that's the fun part. As a professional, you like challenges, and this is definitely a big one. It's time for us to just have fun with it, find a way to win some ballgames and go from there."

It's been awhile since postseason smiles graced the faces of Dirk Nowitzki, Avery Johnson and Mark Cuban. Entering tonight's Game 1 at New Orleans Arena, the Mavs are 2-8 in their past 10 playoff games.

"It has to be fun," Kidd said. "Whatever I can do to help Dirk so that he can play at the level that he needs to play and not worry about being criticized or whatever it might be. When you have fun and things are going good, you tend to play your best. Hopefully I can be here to help him with that."

Pressure, to be sure, is relevant. Nowitzki shouldered the blame for last season's crash against Golden State on the heels of his MVP campaign. Johnson has faced media and fan criticism this season for the first time in his three-plus-year tenure.

Even for the coolest of customers, Kidd can't totally elude the pressure to produce. He wanted out of New Jersey. He got his wish.

Dirk's time?

The distressed image of Nowitzki accepting the MVP award from NBA commissioner David Stern weeks after the Mavs' season ended unceremoniously at Golden State is a difficult one to dispose.

"Last year's done. This regular season is done. That's how I look at it," Nowitzki said. "It doesn't matter what you did last year. It starts over as far as I'm concerned."

Nowitzki has constructed an all-new image out of guts and guile. His hurried return from a painful high left ankle sprain and his hobbled, yet phenomenal, April performances pushed the Mavs into the playoffs and altered how some critics view the 7-footer's determination and leadership.

"The way he's come back from his ankle situation has made a significant statement to the team of how important this is for us," Johnson said. "Had he not done that, who knows if we would have made the playoffs?"

Nowitzki's ankle is not 100 percent, and it won't be in this series -- or the next. Still, he's managed to continue the evolution of his inside game, using a variety of spin moves in the paint and especially along the baseline to gallop around defenders and score.

Against the Hornets, Nowitzki will face a challenge similar to last season against the Warriors: constant double teams.

"I want to play well in the playoffs and give my team a spark and give my team some big baskets when they need them," Nowitzki said. "That's what a leader has to do, step up down the stretch. So we'll see how that works."

Under fire

If Johnson picked up a copy of his hometown newspaper Friday morning, his face and this headline at the top of the front page greeted him: "N.O. Native Faces Must-Win Series as Mavs Coach."

No one has intimated about Johnson's future should the Mavs lose to the Hornets. Cuban has intentionally not commented, and Johnson called the speculation part of the business.

The NBA's Coach of the Year two seasons ago, Johnson has three remaining years on his contract. He's faced his first true wave of criticism this season, no more so than when he benched Kidd for the final 34.5 seconds of a loss at San Antonio in Kidd's fifth game.

"He knows that comes along with the territory," Jerry Stackhouse said. "He knows when things went well for this team he stood up there and held the Coach of the Year award, and when things aren't going as well as fans would like it, they have the right to vent, and he accepts that.

"But I don't think any of that stuff had any effect on how he approached us on a day-to-day basis. What I saw is the same things I've been seeing for the last four years: You lose a game, you come back in, strap it on, get back out there, work on the court and, hopefully, we'll be better next game."

Johnson, 194-70 in the three-plus regular seasons with the Mavs and 22-20 in the postseason, has come under fire for his perceived micromanaging, especially in the early stages of the Kidd trade. Yet in other ways, this might have been Johnson's toughest and best job.

Multiple injuries, a near-disastrous trade scenario that played out for weeks, and a sluggish start with Kidd nearly derailed the season.

Johnson, who said he loves to "hit adversity right in the face," managed to keep the locker room together and guide the Mavs to a 51-win season and the playoffs. He said he hopes his bulldog ways have translated to his team, one seemingly always seeking to shed its image for being soft.

"We've had to deal with a lot this year, and I don't think if I would have gotten rattled or discouraged or wouldn't have done what I needed to do to keep this team moving forward, who knows what would have happened?" Johnson said. "For a while here, we haven't really had a very vocal-type leader -- we've had guys lead in different ways -- that's something I've had to do, so hopefully it's been of some benefit."

If it has, maybe the Mavs can even have a little fun.

[kriD]

MAVERICKS NOTES

Hornets' defense will try to work on Dirk

By JEFF CAPLAN
Star-Telegram Staff Writer

NEW ORLEANS -- In four regular-season games, the Dallas Mavericks have seen the New Orleans Hornets' defensive game plan.

"They're going to make somebody else beat them," point guard Jason Kidd said.

In Game 1 of the first-round series tonight, Mavs forward Dirk Nowitzki will probably see double teams and traps by the Hornets in an attempt to make him pass the ball. They've been successful doing it.

Two of Nowitzki's six lowest-scoring games this season came against New Orleans, including a seven-point performance Dec. 14 and a 12-point game in Wednesday's regular-season finale. He scored 31 on Feb. 20 and 19 on Dec. 1.

Interestingly, the Mavs lost the latter two games and won the two in which Nowitzki was held well below his season scoring average of 23.6 points per game. Nowitzki's 17.3-point average against the Hornets was his lowest against a Western Conference team. He shot 36.7 percent in the four games, including 9.1 percent (1-for-11) from 3-point range.

"We know it's something a lot of teams love to try on us," Mavs coach Avery Johnson said of double teams. "Because of that, it's nothing new. We've seen it before. How we execute against it is going to be a big key in this series, and how we make them pay for their double teams.

"We've got to figure out ways that when he's getting double-teamed we still try to get him the ball back in some kind of way."

Big Bass

Power forward Brandon Bass, a Baton Rouge native who played at LSU and spent his first two NBA seasons riding the Hornets' bench, could play a key role in this playoff series, the first of his career.

He logged 30 minutes Wednesday against the Hornets and scored 13 points, his fifth double-digit scoring game in his past six, while center Erick Dampier was limited to 17 minutes.

Considering Dirk Nowitzki's defensive mobility issues because of his sprained left ankle, Bass could be even more valuable in helping to guard New Orleans All-Star forward David West and center Tyson Chandler.

"No, he is not more important because of Dirk's situation," Avery Johnson said. "Everybody on the team is important. I wouldn't say Bass is more important. We don't need to add any added pressure to the young man."

Who's the underdog?

As the No. 7 seed, the Mavs are the natural underdog against the second-seeded Hornets. Nationally, however, many analysts are picking the Mavs to win the series, primarily because of their experience.

Avery Johnson has a problem with that.

"It's a total disrespect for New Orleans; that's what it is," Johnson said. "And a lot of people nationally, they don't know what they're talking about. Nobody has a crystal ball on who's going to win, who's going to lose. All we know is we're a seventh seed and they've had a terrific season.

"First of all, I don't know why anybody would pick us anyway. They never pick us."

Draft tidbits

The NBA broke four ties and finalized the 2008 draft order for non-lottery teams Friday. The Mavs would have picked 21st, but the pick goes to New Jersey as part of the Jason Kidd trade.

[jthig32]

Whoah, it's kriD.

[left texas]

Wow lots of good reading before game time. The Hornets will do everything to take Dirk out of this game, how he and the rest of the team responds will determine the outcome of this series. Some other Mavs have to step up whether it is Jason (like last game) or Josh, or Stack.

Kidd and Dirk have to lead and enforce their will on the Hornets. The Hornets are good, but I think they can be broken. We have to stay close in this game and then hammer them in the fourh quarter.

We need to win one of these first two games and I would just as soon it be this one!! Go Mavs!!

[Julius]

Originally Posted by jthig32

Whoah, it's kriD.

Great, what a comeback!!