Avery won't jump to conclusions

[kriD]

Avery won't jump to conclusions

For starters, coach wants team to play better defensively

12:20 AM CST on Thursday, November 9, 2006
By EDDIE SEFKO / The Dallas Morning News

LOS ANGELES – Avery Johnson has his own way of evaluating the Mavericks, and it doesn't involve making snap judgments after three or four games.

Good thing, or he'd be making changes left and right.

"I evaluate the team in 20-game increments," Johnson said. "We haven't got to that evaluation point yet. But does that mean we want to continue where we are? We've got to get better. When you play really good basketball, you can identify one or two areas. We're not there yet. I want to get it down to one or two areas."

Instead of 20 or 30 problem areas, which is where the Mavericks stood after their 0-3 start.

So Johnson started with the defense, which was atrocious in the opening three losses when opponents shot 50.7 percent.

"Absolutely, this is not our defense," he said. "But I got to do a better job of making sure they understand the system. And the team admits they got to do a better job of bringing energy and concentration on a more consistent basis."

No explaining it: Johnson said he was prepared to hear all sorts of excuses for the team's 0-3 start. But none change the bottom line.

"There are all kind of creative ways – and we'll hear them all – to talk about where we are," he said. "Would we like to be 3-0, 2-1 or 1-2? That'd beat where we are. We just got to keep getting better."

Finally in action: Devean George was in uniform for the first time this season and saw his first action after missing the first three games with a stomach illness.

"He's still a little foggy," Johnson said. "He's not 100 percent. I think it may take another week for him to possibly get back right."

George's presence is especially important given that Josh Howard, who plays the same positions as George, is out for two weeks because of a sprained left ankle.

"Oh, absolutely," Johnson said. "He's important if Josh is here."

Still proving them wrong: Sam Cassell will be 37 on Nov. 18 and is still as feisty as ever on the court.

"They keep telling me I can't do it at 37," the Los Angeles guard said. "That's what keeps me going."

It doesn't hurt that he's got a lot of help on a strong Clippers team.

One of the players keeping Cassell young is former SMU standout Quinton Ross. "He's the glue for us," Cassell said. "Whatever we need from him, he'll do."

Cassell also had high praise for point guard Shaun Livingston: "Whenever I have to guard one of those quick kids, he does it for me."

Briefly: Johnson fiddled with the starting lineup against the Clippers, partly out of necessity, but also by choice. Jerry Stackhouse got the start for Howard. Also in the lineup was Erick Dampier for DeSagana Diop. ... Howard has begun treatments on his left ankle, mostly with ice. The ankle swelled up considerably on the outside, but not on the inside. Two weeks out remains the prognosis. ... Johnson's ejection against Golden State on Monday was the third of his coaching career. He was ejected twice last season.

[supamari0]

Seems like every other clown on this board is jumping to conclusions. Time to pull out the old mat.

[kriD]

MAVERICKS NOTES

Nowitzki says Mavs hesitating

By ART GARCIA
Star-Telegram Staff Writer

LOS ANGELES -- The losing skid is one thing. Looking at the record next to Mavericks in the standings is even a bigger shock.

"It looks like we haven't won in eight months," Dirk Nowitzki said. "It looks weird. It's always a tough stretch to lose three in a row, but it doesn't look as bad as when you're stuck on zero."

More like 4 1/2 months after losing Wednesday night to the Los Angeles Clippers, but who's counting?

Watching film of Monday's loss to Golden State on the flight to California, Nowitzki saw a team thinking too much instead of just playing.

"Some guys might be hesitant, 'Should I shoot it right now? Should I drive it?' Everybody has got to get used to [coach] Avery [Johnson], even the new guys," Nowitzki said. "Where should we be on defense? Who's going to double team? Who's rotating where?

"It's because we didn't have a lot of practice together in the preseason. It's so early. We're not really worried about anything, but it's still a tough stretch to go through. If you go through this stretch in January, you lose three in a row, it doesn't look as bad."

The uncertainty includes Nowitzki. The team's leading scorer had just seven of the Mavs' 55 shot attempts in the fourth quarters of the first three games, making just three baskets and scoring nine points.

Johnson compared the current struggles to his daughter's situation in algebra class. Though the eighth-grader has moved on to upper-level math, she's reviewing the foundations of pre-algebra.

Simply, Johnson is both reviewing and teaching.

"That's why I'm not a mad scientist right now," he said. "See, the formula is not the problem. The system is not the problem. It's just getting everybody to understand the system."

Besides, he added, it's too early to make any conclusions.

"I evaluate the team in 20-game increments," Johnson said. "We haven't got to that evaluation point yet. But does that mean we want to continue where we are? We've got to get better."

Best quarter?

The 32 points scored in the first quarter against the Clippers weren't a season high, but the 11-point Mavs' lead was significant. Avery Johnson didn't substitute and every player in the starting lineup has been with the team at least three seasons.

By comparison, Johnson went 10 deep in the first quarter of the opener against San Antonio. Five holdovers also started Monday against Golden State.

"We had five guys out there who kind of knew exactly what we were doing," Johnson said. "Now we just got to bring everybody into it."

Dead last

As different as the first three losses were -- San Antonio won a half-court battle, Houston rolled to an easy blowout and the Warriors held on in a shootout -- one glaring deficiency hasn't sat too well with Avery Johnson.

The Warriors and Spurs shot 49 percent, and Houston topped out at 54 percent. The Mavs went into Wednesday last in the league in field-goal percentage defense.

"Teams over here in the West want to score the ball, and if you allow guys to shoot those kind of numbers against you, you're going to be behind the eight-ball," guard Anthony Johnson said. "We've got to tighten up the screws defensively."

Briefly

Jerry Stackhouse and Erick Dampier made their first starts of the season. Stackhouse filled in for injured small forward Josh Howard (ankle) and Dampier replaced DeSagana Diop.

Devean George was active for the first time. He missed the first three games recovering from a stomach illness.

[jacktruth]

I don't want to sound panicked, but I sure hope he evaluates this team before we get to 0-20.

[V2M]

Originally Posted by jacktruth

I don't want to sound panicked, but I sure hope he evaluates this team before we get to 0-20.

... or at least get 'em past pre-algebra!