Randy Does Nellie--Part Deux

[MavKikiNYC]

Newsflash: Hell freezes over. Galloway writes two consecutive columns on the Mavericks.

Posted on Sun, Nov. 02, 2003

Strange fits not new to Nelson
By Randy Galloway
Star-Telegram Staff Writer

DALLAS - Frustration does this to a coach.

An hour before Saturday night's tipoff in the Mavericks' home opener, Don Nelson sounded like a guy who was ready to plunge on a lottery ticket.

His numbers:

Two. Five. Seven. Twelve.

In an attempt to jump-start his struggling jump shooters, Nellie had convinced himself that no more than two new Mavs would be among the five on the floor at any time.

But seven of the 12 players on the active roster have arrived since summer, so Nelson was worried if he could make those numbers work.

He didn't. And it didn't matter.

For the first time in the early season, the new blended with the Big 3, and the Mavericks went on one of those familiar offensive binges, crushing a Utah outfit that no longer has those oldies but goodies, Malone and Stockton.

"The game kinda went that way," shrugged Nelson, explaining why three newcomers were on the floor by the second quarter, and four in the third quarter of the 127-102 victory.

Actually, Tony Delk, the veteran guard, kinda went that way.

The "other guy" in the Antoine Walker trade two weeks ago, Delk clanged his first four shots, and it looked like a continuation of his misery (3-of-14 shooting) from the first two games on the road.

But Delk briefly put his cold hand aside, played a terrific floor game in the early go (five rebounds, three steals and two assists in the first half), then caught fire in the third quarter.

His 22 points led a parade of seven players in double figures.

"Didn't I tell you," Nelson said, "that Delk was good."
(Editorial Note: Delk is Nellie's project du jour. Vintage Nellie, seeing himself smarter than the 5 other coaches and GMs who've released Delk, who has played for 5 other teams in 8 years. Nellie reminds me of that Volkswagen commercial from a couple of years ago where the two guys were driving around and saw a sofa on the street that was being thrown away, so they put the sofa on their car roof and take it home only to find once they get it in their apartment that it has an unpleasant odor. Delk, too, shall pass.)

Yeah, maybe he did.

When the jump shots fall, the Mavs are very, very good.

Michael Finley, an iceberg on the road, hit his first three jumpers. Dirk Nowitzki hit four of his first five.

It became a trend. And also caused a postgame caution from Nelson.

"We've got to be careful we don't get too full of ourselves on the jump shots," he said.

That's shocking commentary considering the Mavs are a team that has lived and died with the jumper.

Then again, the roster shakeup from last season is about changing that concept.

"We've got two guys [Walker and Nowitzki] who can go inside, plus [Antoine] Jamison off the bench," Nelson said. "The more we play together we will go inside more. We started doing that tonight, and it was effective."

A 41-point Mavericks third quarter was testimony to the new inside game, plus a case of the Mavs dominating the pace and opening up the court. It was also a commentary on Utah not having much of an inside defensive force beyond the talented Russian, Andrei Kirilenko.

Plus, Nelson smalled-down his starting lineup for the second straight game, starting Delk at a guard alongside Steve Nash, and moving Finley to small forward. That puts the 6-9 Walker at power forward, and the 7-foot non-center, Nowitzki, at, yes, center.

Nelson says it's been a case of "match-up," meaning he could get away with it against the depleted rosters of Golden State and the Jazz (missing Keon Clark on the inside Saturday night).

Meanwhile, the rest of the NBA continues a collective head-scratch over Nelson having a roster to open the season with only one true center: Shawn Bradley.

And it was Nelson who said Friday, "Bradley has been so awful I hate to even put him out there."
(Editorial Note: Ouch.)

This, of course, is typical Nellie. He is the master at making strange pieces fit.

To start a new season, Nelson has the smallest team in the league, yet he wants more of an emphasis on the inside game. And one of the players he's centering that emphasis around is Walker, who took more 3-pointers last season at Boston than any player in the NBA.

Walker, however, continues to respond to Nelson's insistence on him using his post-up talents.

In Boston, that draws a good belly laugh. But for Nellie, it makes perfect sense.

"Walker can do it," he said. "In time, he's going to be very good down there. I already love the way he passes out of the low post."

Walker finished with 16 points, and added six assists.

One statistic of note: The Mavericks totaled 58 points in the paint, 20 more than the Jazz.

"My vision for the team is playing games like this," Nelson said. "But we need consistency in playing this kind of game."

As it turned out, what wasn't needed in the home opener were those Nellie lottery numbers.

[Murphy3]

"We've got to be careful we don't get too full of ourselves on the jump shots," he said.

That's shocking commentary considering the Mavs are a team that has lived and died with the jumper.

Then again, the roster shakeup from last season is about changing that concept.

"We've got two guys [Walker and Nowitzki] who can go inside, plus [Antoine] Jamison off the bench," Nelson said. "The more we play together we will go inside more. We started doing that tonight, and it was effective."

I can't believe these words came out of nellie's mouth

[LRB]

Originally posted by: Murphy3

I can't believe these words came out of nellie's mouth

Neither can I, but I certainly won't complain about it. Just hope that the Mavs continue with and emphasis on going down low more all year long.

[TwoDeep3]

Originally posted by: Murphy3

"We've got to be careful we don't get too full of ourselves on the jump shots," he said.

That's shocking commentary considering the Mavs are a team that has lived and died with the jumper.

Then again, the roster shakeup from last season is about changing that concept.

"We've got two guys [Walker and Nowitzki] who can go inside, plus [Antoine] Jamison off the bench," Nelson said. "The more we play together we will go inside more. We started doing that tonight, and it was effective."

I can't believe these words came out of nellie's mouth.

Some of us have felt personnel are the reason for the X's and O's of Nellie's stategy.

Maybe this is a tip of the hat to that theory.

The litany of complaints about no big man, not playing in the paint, no defense, and all the other hair-pulling rants by those that have argued against Nelson perhaps have been shot down with
this comment.

Maybe all along he wanted to play inside but never had the players. There wasn't a player on the market. The team couldn't do it with the personnel, and they are just poor on defense.

But wait, Nelson built the team, the mantra goes. So he is at fault.

And in so much of this, the availabilty of players on the open market dictate how you build your team. The cap insures you can't rape another team by signing away their big men.

Patience is an idea that has merit. Being patient enough to see how things turn out. This is a high powered offense and there is something to be said about a team that can get up and down the court so quickly that it affords the other team plenty of time to shoot. One Hundred points to Utah looks like there was no defense played. Beating them by nearly 30 points suggests a different story.

I think Nelson is a lot brighter than given credit for here and other places.

When this crew gets the chemistry working, I believe this might be the season he hushes his critics.

But then I am an eternal optimist. Even when faced with the facts that Nelson has improved this team every year since signing on and still has detractors in locales such as here.

[Murphy3]

yes, adding jamison and walker helps the mavs inside attack..

however, nellie under utilized dirk on a consistent basis in the paint over the past year to year and a half.

Perhaps nellie finally learned a thing or two in the off season..we'll see

[Max Power]

Originally posted by: TwoDeep3

Some of us have felt personnel are the reason for the X's and O's of Nellie's stategy.

Maybe this is a tip of the hat to that theory.

The litany of complaints about no big man, not playing in the paint, no defense, and all the other hair-pulling rants by those that have argued against Nelson perhaps have been shot down with
this comment.

Maybe all along he wanted to play inside but never had the players. There wasn't a player on the market. The team couldn't do it with the personnel, and they are just poor on defense.

But wait, Nelson built the team, the mantra goes. So he is at fault.

And in so much of this, the availabilty of players on the open market dictate how you build your team. The cap insures you can't rape another team by signing away their big men.

Patience is an idea that has merit. Being patient enough to see how things turn out. This is a high powered offense and there is something to be said about a team that can get up and down the court so quickly that it affords the other team plenty of time to shoot. One Hundred points to Utah looks like there was no defense played. Beating them by nearly 30 points suggests a different story.

I think Nelson is a lot brighter than given credit for here and other places.

When this crew gets the chemistry working, I believe this might be the season he hushes his critics.

But then I am an eternal optimist. Even when faced with the facts that Nelson has improved this team every year since signing on and still has detractors in locales such as here.

Whatever.

Nellie had Juwan here - did we go inside?

Nellie has Dirk here - did we go inside?

Nellie has never properly utilized the inside players he has had but hope springs eternal that he will THIS year.

[bogey]

I doubt when the going gets tough that Nellie does anything other than have this team shoot threes.


And for the record.....Galloway is a drunk ass clown.