Off-the-mark Mavs navigating rough spot

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Off-the-mark Mavs navigating rough spot

Stackhouse: It's hard to get ahead when you're off by a hair

By EDDIE SEFKO / The Dallas Morning News

Even the best teams walk a fine line in the NBA. When things are going great, the smallest detail can reverse a team's fortunes quickly. It's not just a groove becoming a rut. It's a mystique becoming a mistake.

"It's a hair," Jerry Stackhouse said Saturday. "A thin hair, like ... mine. You can be playing well and your confidence is at the ultimate high, and then a loss and your confidence is shaken.

"We won 14 in a row and felt like we didn't play well sometimes and still found ways to win games. Then you get into a little rut where you can actually play good basketball and can't win a game."

The Mavericks are closer to the latter than the former right now. They are 14-9 since March 1, 5-5 since March 28 and 0-2 since Wednesday.

Then again, San Antonio is 5-5 over its last 10 games, too. In fact, nobody in the Western Conference is on any sort of roll with the playoffs only six days away.

But the Mavericks have particular concerns. They have three players – Devin Harris, Adrian Griffin and Josh Howard – who still aren't fully recovered from injuries, although Howard is closing in on full strength.

Plus, numerous players are playing below coach Avery Johnson's expectations.

"It's a different kind of year," Johnson said. "You're in situations where San Antonio lost to a hot Orlando team, and we have, too.

"It's a fine line [between playing well and not]. And when you're winning, you never think it's going to last forever. When you're losing, sometimes you do."

The Mavericks are confident that rough spots like this don't last. They went to Houston in Round 1 last season down 2-0 and with vultures circling. It was nothing a two-game trip to Houston couldn't reverse.

Their karma will return this time, too – they hope.

Not playoff-ready: Harris, the point guard who missed a month to let his strained thigh recuperate, won't be full strength when the playoffs start. He said Saturday he planned on using at least part of the first round as a time to gain strength in the leg.

"It's a little bit weak," said Harris, who will play about 15 minutes tonight against Utah and perhaps more Wednesday in the regular-season finale. "Then Avery and I will sit down about the first round. We want to make sure we're on the same page."

Harris said he will let his body dictate how much he's available for the first round.

Not the norm: You want unpredictable answers? Take a look at what Johnson said Saturday when asked who his best center is right now:

"Me," he said.

Clearly, DeSagana Diop and Erick Dampier are not where the coach wants them with the playoffs bearing down.

"Damp and Gana and D.J. [Mbenga] have a tremendous role for our team, and we need them to be playing some really good basketball going into the playoffs. [But] my centers haven't been playing recently like I want them to play. We got to get them going again."

Dampier said he's trying to use last year – his first to experience the playoffs – as a lesson for how to prepare for the postseason. Diop, meanwhile, was held out of Thursday's game in Phoenix and said he feels like he's refreshed.

"What's the wall?" he asked. "I don't know. I guess I did [hit it]. I feel good now, though. And I feel like I'm playing OK now, except for that Golden State game."

Then again, nobody played well in that one.

[kriD]

MAVERICKS NOTES

No resting on laurels, Avery says

By DWAIN PRICE
Star-Telegram Staff Writer

DALLAS -- Unlike last year when he gave his players ample rest a few games before the playoffs started, Mavericks coach Avery Johnson said that won't be the case in the final two games, beginning tonight against Utah and continuing Wednesday against the Los Angeles Clippers.

Johnson will use the final two games sort of like dress rehearsals before the playoffs start next weekend.

"We don't anticipate resting anybody," Johnson said. "I don't think anybody will play 48 minutes, but we pretty much want to play these last two games.

"We want to get everybody some minutes, because you don't want to overuse anybody."

Johnson did rest center DeSagana Diop and guard Jerry Stackhouse on Thursday at Phoenix after deciding the chase for the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference was over. However, Johnson doesn't want to get burned like he almost did last year when he gave some of his regular players quality rest before the playoffs started, then the Mavs went out and dropped the first two postseason games at home to the Houston Rockets.

Johnson said the scenario is somewhat different this time because the Mavs finished the regular season with a 16-2 record last year, and now they've limped along with only a 5-5 record in their last 10 games.

"I just kind of rested them too much [last year], maybe, and we just got a little lazy, probably as a team, and we were playing great," Johnson said. "I think we're not playing great and we're not going to be lazy, so, hopefully, we'll have a little pep in our step and be ready."

Who's No. 1?

Avery Johnson hasn't been pleased with the recent play of centers DeSagana Diop, Erick Dampier and DJ Mbenga. But he hopes that changes real soon.

Asked after Saturday's practice who's the best center on his team right now, Johnson said: "Me. My centers still haven't been playing recently like I've wanted them to play.

"Damp and DeSagana and obviously DJ, they have a tremendous role for our team. We need them to be playing some really good basketball going into the playoffs."

Dampier, who has averaged 5.8 rebounds over the past nine games, believes he can turn his game up a notch or two.

"I'm physically fine -- maybe the body is just a little sore," Dampier said. "But it's that time of the season.

"It doesn't matter if you're sore or what. You've got to be ready and be prepared to play."

Diop said his battery has been recharged after Johnson allowed him to rest Thursday against Phoenix.

"I felt very good today in practice," Diop said. "I'm ready to go [against Utah] so I can be the best center again -- me or Damp.

"We've just got to be a pro about it, and we've got to go and play. I'm just going to go and play hard."

Terry charged up

Point guard Jason Terry was very enthusiastic after Saturday's practice.

"It's just a great time to be a Maverick," Terry said. "It's Easter weekend, it's my little girl's birthday [Jalayah is 5 years old], and it's two games away from the playoffs.

"It's a long ways off and a lot has to happen in between that. It'll be an exciting time for the city and for the fans, who deserve it."

[kriD]

Dog days OK if Harris is unleashed

By Randy Galloway
Star-Telegram Staff Writer

Confused, maybe, about the Mavericks?

Wondering, by chance, what the heck happened last week, when your luvable basketball team suddenly became road rot out West?

The timing is a bit suspect, of course. The playoffs are a week away.

Playing badly, as the Mavs did, would be a cause for concern. But there was also something more involved on that road trip.

His team went "dog" on Avery Johnson.

They played bored. They tuned out their coach and coasted for a week.

Looked awful. Looked like nothing we had seen all season.

But after having observed all that last week, leave it to Mr. Sunshine (that's me) to offer a few soothing words in attempting to explain this out-of-character lapse.

Dirk, Josh, Terry, etc., they had to be bored.

How do I know that?

Because I was bored.

Just get the bleeping regular season over with, OK?

Anyway, I'm hereby blowing off last week's dog act as a case of boredom.

But I was also a tad hasty with those remarks about the bleeping regular season.

There is one reason, and one reason only, to pay attention tonight (Utah) and also for the finale on Wednesday (the Clippers).

Devin Harris. He's the reason.

Devin needs the minutes and needs the work that these last two games can provide.

Outside of Dirk Nowitzki atoning for his postseason misery of a year ago, no one player is considered more of a playoff key than Devin Harris.

In physical appearance, Harris obviously doesn't have broad shoulders stretched across his 6-3, 185-pound frame.

But as Donnie Nelson, president of basketball operations, said Friday, "We are going to put a load on Devin's shoulders, and we think he can help carry us."

Avery has hinted at this for weeks. Assistant coach Del Harris echoed the same theme Friday.

But first, they've got to knock off the rust, and that continues tonight after Harris got in for seven minutes in Phoenix on Thursday.

It was his first action after missing the past 17 games with a strained quadriceps muscle he first injured in February. The Mavs were extremely careful with this injury, hoping to ensure Harris' health for the playoffs.

"We've now got these last two games, but it may take another three or four in the playoffs before Devin is at a full 100 percent," said Del Harris.

The Mavericks playoff planning has Devin as one of the focal points for a lot of obvious reasons, one of which pertains to San Antonio. Not that anybody wants to look beyond the first round, of course, but to say the Spurs aren't already on the local radar would be a lie.

The Del Harris scouting report on Devin goes like this:

"There's a quickness factor we don't have with anyone else. And I want to stress that the quickness factor is important on both ends of the floor."

"Offensively, Devin gets us coast-to-coast in a hurry. Our running game is not the same, and, at times, not very good, without him. We need to be better in the running game."

"In half-court, our pick-and-roll improves dramatically with Devin. The other guys we've got coming off the pick are not exactly slow, but no one has close to the explosiveness of Devin. He comes around that pick, and with his quickness, is gone. That breaks down the defense in a hurry."

"We've had success in certain lineup situations, playing him together with JT [Jason Terry]. We like those matchups."

"Defensively, Devin is the one guy who can put pressure on the ball and not be beaten by the first step. (If you are thinking Tony Parker, you've got a bingo.) The kid doesn't look it, but he's strong. Very strong."

It's funny to have all this praise and all this anticipation over the return of a young guy who logged a mere 23 minutes a game this season, averaging 10 points.

But as a second-year player, Harris has made timely, although not rapid, progress. Privately, the Mavericks' brain trust sees stardom down the road, but is asking for and expecting an immediate impact in these playoffs.

Since Avery was one, and a good one, back in the day, he is double hard on his point guards. On the General's Scream-a-Meter, Harris probably leads the team this season in hearing an earful during games.

"But before Devin got hurt, he had gained Avery's confidence," said Del Harris. "He's going to have to earn that again, but you could see him out there, having progressed to the point where he was not immediately looking over at the bench after every play, wondering what Avery was thinking.

"Devin had become a mature player. He needs to get back to that point in his own mind. But he had reached it for the first time, and there's no reason to think he won't get it back."

So while the regular season now drags to a close, we can't dismiss the Mavericks' last two games entirely.

Devin Harris is just getting started again after a long absence.

And his progress is definitely worth watching.

[dude1394]

Ohh baby....this is gonna get good!

[nashtymavsfan13]

I can't wait for the playoffs.

[V2M]

The way we were playing in Jan/Feb, I wonder what our record might have been if not for Josh & Devin's injuries ?! Hope we regain that form soon!